For a long time now, patients suffering from missing teeth who also happen to have diabetes have been pressured away from treatment with dental implants. The reason for this is that is was believed that diabetes might interfere with the healing process, which is when the implant fixture is integrated into your jaw structure. However, recent studies have shown that this may not be true, and that the success rate of implant treatment for patients with diabetes can be just as high as it is for non-diabetic patients. Today, dental implants Mountain View dentist Dr. Donian Shen is writing to talk about diabetes and how attitudes toward it may be changing.
Don’t Let Diabetes Stop Your Dental Implant Treatment
Dental implants are rather unique among teeth restoration treatments because of the way they use a process called osseointegration to fuse themselves to your jawbone. During this process, the implant fixture, which is one of the three pieces that make up a dental implant, is accepted by your jawbone and gums as a natural piece of your oral anatomy. Thanks to this process, your dental implants are accepted by your body as being no different from any of your natural teeth. In fact, osseointegration is the reason your implants will be capable of withstanding the force of everyday use.
Because osseointegration is so important to the dental implant process, dentists have long been nervous to allow any patients who have certain habits or medical conditions to move forward with the implant process, as these factors may cause osseointegration to fail. For instance, smokers have been advised against pursuing treatment with implants because their habit can increase the risk for peri-implantitis, which results in the implants failure. While we have much success providing our smoking patients with dental implants, the fact is that these patients have a much higher risk of failure than our patients who don’t smoke.
The same beliefs that have stopped smokers from pursuing treatment with implants have long extended to our diabetic patients. However, this is beginning to change thanks to a recent study. This study states, “Success of dental implant in well and fairly controlled diabetic patients with proper treatment planning, prophylactic remedies and adequate postsurgical maintenance appears as good as normal individuals” (Debey, Gupta, and Singh [2013]). To put that in plain English, so long as your condition is well maintained and you are properly observed, the chances of your implant treatment succeeding are just as high as they are for healthy patients without diabetes.
Call and Schedule a Consultation with Dr. Shen
Because there is still so much more research to be done before we can fully understand how diabetes might affect the dental implant process, the possibility of our diabetic patients receiving treatment with dental implants can only be determined on a case by case basis. If you are interested in finding out whether or not you might be a good candidate for treatment with implants, we encourage you to contact us and schedule a no-obligation consultation with dental implant provider, Dr. Donian Shen, today.
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