I had my left second bicuspid extracted around Aug. 2018. 4 months later, on Dec. 2018 I got an implant. I had bone graft (bovine) when I had the surgery. 5 months later, in 2019, I got the crown. All the procedure was planned by Dr. X and he said everything went smoothly.
Then I moved. So in 2023 I went to another clinic, L Clinic, to fill a tooth. I was new there so I took x-rays. The x-rays showed the implant’s good and Dr. G there said my implant’s good at that time.
One year later, in Apr. 2024 I went there again for cleaning. I took x-rays again and this time they showed that my implant suffered bone loss. The bone around the first 3 threads was missing. (This happed in one year, from 2023 to 2024.) Dr. G said maybe there has been an infection. My gum around the implant did hurt before my 2024 visit and there’s a swelling on the gum. I think that’s when the infection occurred. Dr. G said another reason for the bone loss may be that the implant’s too tall, so he made it shorter. He told me to clean the heck out of it.
Before my 2024 visit, I only flossed the implant once every day before I go to bed at night. Sometimes I took a nap without cleaning it. The gum bled sometimes when I flossed it. After that visit, I flossed after every meal and before I took a nap. After doing those, the bleeding stopped and there’s no more swelling or gum pain.
One year later, May. 2025, I went for my cleaning and x-rays again. This time the bone loss’s down to the 4th thread. (My implant has 14 threads in total.) So from 2024 to 2025, the bone loss slowed down and only went down 1 thread. This time Dr. G wasn’t there and a new doctor, Dr. Y, saw me after the cleaning. She said the bone loss may have “stabilized.” But she referred me to a periodontist, Dr. H, anyway.
So I went to see the specialist, Dr. H. He told me he didn’t receive my x-rays from L Clinic so he couldn’t compare them. I took new x-rays in his clinic. He mentioned an infection too and said once there has been an infection, it’s impossible to completely clean the implant. There’s no way to completely wipe out the bacteria unless I take the implant out and get a new one: redo the implant. (The cost is $4650.) At first, he said that’s the “best treatment.” He then quickly modified his remark, saying it’s the “most predictable treatment.” He stopped using the word “best” and only said “most predictable” afterwards. Redoing the implant’s the first option he offered and he only used about 3 sentences to talk about that treatment. Then he gave me a second option: take only the crown off, clean the implant, get bone graft again, get gum graft, then put the crown back on. (The cost is $3050.) He spent most of the time explaining this option and said that this treatment can’t completely wipe out the bacteria. I asked him how long my implant can last after this treatment. He couldn’t give me an exact answer and just said that the grafted bone would start to decay after 10-15 years.
Now I can’t decide which treatment I should get. If I get a new implant, I could have another infection in 5 years again. But Dr. H said that’s the “best” or “most predictable treatment.” And if the second treatment can last 10-15 years, that’s a very long time. So my first question is which treatment I should choose.
Second question: if I choose to get a new implant, should I do it right away or can I delay it? There’s only a number of times that I can get an implant at the same place, so I want each implant to last as long as possible. I paid a lot for my current implant, so I’d like to use it as long as possible. Right now my implant’s not bothering me, should I wait till it gets worse to get a new one? Would that hurt the new one?
Thirst question: could the bone loss have stabilized or stopped? Because Dr. H didn’t see my previous x-rays, he couldn’t see the progress of the bone loss. After finding out about the bone loss, I only took new x-rays once, so I have no way of knowing if the bone loss has stabilized. But is it possible? If it has “stabilized” like Dr. Y said, then I don’t need any treatment. It has definitely slowed down. Should I wait 6 months or 1 year and take another x-ray to see if it has stopped? Thank you very much.
2019 x-ray.
2024 x-ray.
2025 x-ray.
I've attached 3 photos chronologically.
Then I moved. So in 2023 I went to another clinic, L Clinic, to fill a tooth. I was new there so I took x-rays. The x-rays showed the implant’s good and Dr. G there said my implant’s good at that time.
One year later, in Apr. 2024 I went there again for cleaning. I took x-rays again and this time they showed that my implant suffered bone loss. The bone around the first 3 threads was missing. (This happed in one year, from 2023 to 2024.) Dr. G said maybe there has been an infection. My gum around the implant did hurt before my 2024 visit and there’s a swelling on the gum. I think that’s when the infection occurred. Dr. G said another reason for the bone loss may be that the implant’s too tall, so he made it shorter. He told me to clean the heck out of it.
Before my 2024 visit, I only flossed the implant once every day before I go to bed at night. Sometimes I took a nap without cleaning it. The gum bled sometimes when I flossed it. After that visit, I flossed after every meal and before I took a nap. After doing those, the bleeding stopped and there’s no more swelling or gum pain.
One year later, May. 2025, I went for my cleaning and x-rays again. This time the bone loss’s down to the 4th thread. (My implant has 14 threads in total.) So from 2024 to 2025, the bone loss slowed down and only went down 1 thread. This time Dr. G wasn’t there and a new doctor, Dr. Y, saw me after the cleaning. She said the bone loss may have “stabilized.” But she referred me to a periodontist, Dr. H, anyway.
So I went to see the specialist, Dr. H. He told me he didn’t receive my x-rays from L Clinic so he couldn’t compare them. I took new x-rays in his clinic. He mentioned an infection too and said once there has been an infection, it’s impossible to completely clean the implant. There’s no way to completely wipe out the bacteria unless I take the implant out and get a new one: redo the implant. (The cost is $4650.) At first, he said that’s the “best treatment.” He then quickly modified his remark, saying it’s the “most predictable treatment.” He stopped using the word “best” and only said “most predictable” afterwards. Redoing the implant’s the first option he offered and he only used about 3 sentences to talk about that treatment. Then he gave me a second option: take only the crown off, clean the implant, get bone graft again, get gum graft, then put the crown back on. (The cost is $3050.) He spent most of the time explaining this option and said that this treatment can’t completely wipe out the bacteria. I asked him how long my implant can last after this treatment. He couldn’t give me an exact answer and just said that the grafted bone would start to decay after 10-15 years.
Now I can’t decide which treatment I should get. If I get a new implant, I could have another infection in 5 years again. But Dr. H said that’s the “best” or “most predictable treatment.” And if the second treatment can last 10-15 years, that’s a very long time. So my first question is which treatment I should choose.
Second question: if I choose to get a new implant, should I do it right away or can I delay it? There’s only a number of times that I can get an implant at the same place, so I want each implant to last as long as possible. I paid a lot for my current implant, so I’d like to use it as long as possible. Right now my implant’s not bothering me, should I wait till it gets worse to get a new one? Would that hurt the new one?
Thirst question: could the bone loss have stabilized or stopped? Because Dr. H didn’t see my previous x-rays, he couldn’t see the progress of the bone loss. After finding out about the bone loss, I only took new x-rays once, so I have no way of knowing if the bone loss has stabilized. But is it possible? If it has “stabilized” like Dr. Y said, then I don’t need any treatment. It has definitely slowed down. Should I wait 6 months or 1 year and take another x-ray to see if it has stopped? Thank you very much.
2019 x-ray.
2024 x-ray.
2025 x-ray.
I've attached 3 photos chronologically.
