How Long Implants Last

The Short Answer

Implants are designed to last for decades, and most do. Long-term studies typically report that well over nine in ten implants are still in place after ten years, and the first patient treated with a modern titanium implant, in 1965, kept his implants for the rest of his life. What wears is the crown on top, which may need replacing after 10 to 15 years through normal wear, like any crown. Our own record at St Vincent Smile is a success rate above 99% across more than 2,000 implants placed over ten years.⁵ The titanium implant in the bone usually stays put.

Implant, Crown and Abutment

It helps to think of three parts. The implant is the titanium post in the bone. The abutment is the connector screwed into it. The crown is the tooth you see. The implant is the long-lived part. Abutments and crowns can be replaced without touching the implant, so a chipped crown twelve years on is a repair, not a new implant.

What Shortens an Implant's Life

• Smoking, which reduces blood flow to the gum and bone and substantially raises the risk of problems
• Gum disease around the implant, called peri-implantitis: inflammation that, left alone, eats away the bone holding it
• Poorly controlled diabetes, which slows healing and raises infection risk
• Heavy grinding or clenching, which overloads the crown, the screw and the bone
• Missed dental examinations, so a loose screw or early inflammation goes unnoticed until it's a bigger job
• Poor planning or placement, which is why we plan every implant on a CT scan and place it with a guide

Peri-Implantitis, in Plain English

An implant can't decay, but the gum around it can become inflamed just as gum around a tooth can. Plaque collects at the gum line, the gum bleeds and swells, and if it isn't cleaned away the inflammation reaches the bone and the bone starts to shrink back from the implant. Caught early it's reversible with cleaning. Caught late it can loosen the implant. Which is why the daily cleaning and the hygiene visits aren't optional extras; they're the thing that decides how long the implant lasts.

Looking After Your Implant at Home

• Brush twice a day with a soft brush, including the gum line all round the implant
• Clean between teeth every day with interdental brushes sized for the gaps
• A water flosser is the most useful tool around bridges and full-arch teeth
• Wear a night guard if you grind; we'll tell you if the wear on your teeth says you do
• Don't smoke, or ask us about help stopping before treatment

Professional Care

Hygiene visits remove the hardened deposits you can't, and let us check the gum and bone around each implant and the tightness of the screws. For implant patients we recommend a hygiene visit every three months, which is also a condition of our guarantee. Plan B dental membership includes four hygiene visits a year with Airflow polishing, which suits most implant patients and costs less than paying per visit. Our dental plans page has the details.

Our Guarantee

We use MegaGen AnyRidge implants, which hold the CleanImplant Trusted Quality seal for manufacturing cleanliness, and implant treatment comes with a 5-year guarantee for non-smokers who attend hygiene visits every 3 months. The full terms are explained in your consent form before you start. If an implant ever does fail, it can usually be removed and, once the bone has healed, replaced.

Questions

This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.