Well as I sit here recovering, thought I would share my story since before my procedure I had searched online for people in similar situation as myself but couldn't find much. Of course though I just found this forum which looks like there are lots of different implant tales, just not sure how many folks have had them removed.
My story is I have a genetic condition called ectodermal dysplasia which can manifest itself in many different ways from hair, nails, and in my case teeth. I was born with all my baby teeth, but only had seeds for 12 adult teeth. So as a kid when those adult teeth came in, it was decided to extract all the other baby teeth that did not adult teeth to replace them. I had that done and then was given partials that clasped to the teeth I did still have.
Had those for 5 years or so until about 1989-1990, which is about the time when dental implants were approved for use in the US. My dentist proposed placing 10 dental implants, 3 on each side on the upper, 2 on each side in the lower. In order to have this done I had to undergo a sinus lift procedure to beef up the upper jawbone to place the implants in, and then my nerve in my lower jaw had to be moved so the lower implants wouldn't interfere with it. When all was said and done, I did get to finish out my senior year of high school with a nice new shiny set of teeth and was one of the first dental implants patients.
Now fast-forward roughly 20 years. I began noticing some swelling and discharge from the upper right side. I took an antibiotic and it went away. About a year later, it flares up again. I did this back and forth with it for about 5 years. My old surgeon with the dental group I was with passed away, and replacement surgeon drops a bomb on me and says the implants in that area a infected and need to come out, and not just those but he wants to remove all the implants and then give me all new ones. I jumped ship and found a new implant specialist in the area who came highly recommended.
My new surgeon attempted to save these troubled implants last year with a periodontal flap procedure and bone grafting and guided tissue regeneration. The problem implant area had lost significant bone due to the infection. It took for about 6 months, but then came back again. I had lost so much bone that the implants were mostly exposed now. They were first generation implants which had a slot in the base of the implant to allow bone to integrate to the implant. Mine were so exposed that slot was have uncovered with part of it still recessed in the bone, the other half exposed which created a cavity for infection to continue.
So plan was to remove them. My new surgeon was concerned that the jawbone in this area is so weak, that removal by individually twisting them out could possibly cause a fracture. He went in with the whole crown still attached to the 3 implants, and basically cut them out of the bone and removed as one piece. He then used two packages of freeze dried bone to try and reinforce the jaw in that area as there wasn't much bone left.
Now recovering, and just glad that it is over with. My side of my face swelled up like a balloon and my eye was swelled shut but that has finally gone down as well and my face is almost looking normal again. 6 months to recover and see how the bone is doing. Surgeon wants to eventually give me another sinus lift and new implants on that side. I am however opting just to do a partial for those teeth, then care for my remaining implants so hopefully they never need to removed.
My story is I have a genetic condition called ectodermal dysplasia which can manifest itself in many different ways from hair, nails, and in my case teeth. I was born with all my baby teeth, but only had seeds for 12 adult teeth. So as a kid when those adult teeth came in, it was decided to extract all the other baby teeth that did not adult teeth to replace them. I had that done and then was given partials that clasped to the teeth I did still have.
Had those for 5 years or so until about 1989-1990, which is about the time when dental implants were approved for use in the US. My dentist proposed placing 10 dental implants, 3 on each side on the upper, 2 on each side in the lower. In order to have this done I had to undergo a sinus lift procedure to beef up the upper jawbone to place the implants in, and then my nerve in my lower jaw had to be moved so the lower implants wouldn't interfere with it. When all was said and done, I did get to finish out my senior year of high school with a nice new shiny set of teeth and was one of the first dental implants patients.
Now fast-forward roughly 20 years. I began noticing some swelling and discharge from the upper right side. I took an antibiotic and it went away. About a year later, it flares up again. I did this back and forth with it for about 5 years. My old surgeon with the dental group I was with passed away, and replacement surgeon drops a bomb on me and says the implants in that area a infected and need to come out, and not just those but he wants to remove all the implants and then give me all new ones. I jumped ship and found a new implant specialist in the area who came highly recommended.
My new surgeon attempted to save these troubled implants last year with a periodontal flap procedure and bone grafting and guided tissue regeneration. The problem implant area had lost significant bone due to the infection. It took for about 6 months, but then came back again. I had lost so much bone that the implants were mostly exposed now. They were first generation implants which had a slot in the base of the implant to allow bone to integrate to the implant. Mine were so exposed that slot was have uncovered with part of it still recessed in the bone, the other half exposed which created a cavity for infection to continue.
So plan was to remove them. My new surgeon was concerned that the jawbone in this area is so weak, that removal by individually twisting them out could possibly cause a fracture. He went in with the whole crown still attached to the 3 implants, and basically cut them out of the bone and removed as one piece. He then used two packages of freeze dried bone to try and reinforce the jaw in that area as there wasn't much bone left.
Now recovering, and just glad that it is over with. My side of my face swelled up like a balloon and my eye was swelled shut but that has finally gone down as well and my face is almost looking normal again. 6 months to recover and see how the bone is doing. Surgeon wants to eventually give me another sinus lift and new implants on that side. I am however opting just to do a partial for those teeth, then care for my remaining implants so hopefully they never need to removed.