Fixing Discolorations On Old Dental Implants: A Few Options To Consider
Posted on: 18 January 2016
Although there is evidence to support that the first dental implants may be thousands of years old, modern dental implants are only a few decades old. If you were one of the first patients to ever receive modern dental implants (in the seventies or eighties), then you may have had them long enough for these fake teeth to stain. Because you cannot whiten or bleach them like natural teeth, it may become painfully obvious to you and everyone around you (when you smile) that you have dental implants. You have a few options to cosmetically correct your older cosmetic teeth.
Burnishing
Dental implants from any era are made of some type of plastic polymer. Barring any issues, like old cracked or damaged implants, or implants that have lost a lot of surface area over the decades, you can renew their whiteness with burnishing. The dentist will take a grinding, sanding and polishing tool and sand away a thin layer or two off of your implants. This reveals a whiter surface underneath. It is not recommended that you repeat this process often, otherwise you would have no implant left, but you could have it done once or twice just for special occasions or when you cannot afford a more expensive option.
Partial Implant Replacement
This is more expensive than burnishing, but the effects are longer lasting. A partial implant replacement means that your dentist removes just the fake crown of each discolored implant and replaces it with a brand-new, very white crown. The results appear to make you look as though you have just had your teeth professionally whitened. If you do have your natural teeth whitened, then nobody is the wiser with regards to your implants. The surgery is also less painful, since your dentist only has to peel back the gingiva surrounding the tops of implant crowns to remove them.
Total Implant Replacement
A total implant replacement is the final, and most expensive, option. Your dentist removes all of your outdated and discolored implants, including the screws in your jaws and the abutments between the implants' crowns and the screws. Then he or she replaces them with the brand new models of dental implants, and you are good to go for another three or four decades. Your dentist may only recommend total implant replacements for your old and discolored implants if there are also several other issues co-occurring with these outdated implants. For more information, go to website.
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