Dental implants and smoking: What do you risk?

Are you a smoker and want a dental implant? Find out below what you risk and what is the failure rate if you smoke before and especially after you have your dental implant.

"I WANT BEAUTIFUL TEETH IN FAVOR OF SMOKING"

… Is heard almost daily in dental implantology clinics when the doctor discusses the dental implant with the patient. Most of the time, the smoking patient refuses because the implant loss rate does not encourage the operation at all.

However, some dentists also manage to get results in smokers, even if this should not encourage smoking. Just consider a few risks and tips.

Of course, smoking is harmful, we know, but unfortunately this guilty pleasure of the smoker does not help him quit smoking. On the contrary, cigarettes are considered a reward and most of the time the smoker goes so far as to sacrifice his teeth and more. However, kept under control and properly sanitized, the dental implant can survive in the mouth of a smoker.

RISK OF LOSS: IMPLANT IN SMOKERS vs. NON-SMOKERS

• The doctor's recommendation is to quit smoking at least 3-4 months before the surgeries to be performed, and at least 4-5 months after that.
• The rate of implant loss in a smoker is about 14%, while in a non-smoker it decreases considerably, close to 1%.

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• The changes that appear microscopically in a smoker are in fact the ones that cause the early loss of the implant. The explanations are multiple, starting with the lack of nutrient intake (oxygen, blood) to the general effect of cigarette tar on the whole body.
• Yes, smoking is a general risk factor and not a local one. In parallel, it affects the whole body and its state of functionality, ie the person no longer functions at normal parameters when he is a smoker. This is the cruel truth that most smokers close their eyes, leaving it somewhere hidden in the unconscious.

QUITTING SMOKING OR IMPLANT LOSS?

Unfortunately, when the smoking patient wants an implant, these cruel truths are brought to his attention. Thus, he is put in the situation to quit smoking or to assume the risk of losing the implant.

My attitude towards smokers is not one of criticism or rejection. What they are looking for is to inform them about the major risk they are exposed to. Therefore, although most of the time the implant insertion operation is successfully completed even in smokers, the recommendation is to COMPLETELY quit smoking.

DR. LORELEI NASSAR