My son is playing hockey in college and recently had a tooth knocked out. We’d made all the arrangements for a dental implant and he had the implant placed. Now, some of his teammates are telling him not to finish the procedure because there will probably be more trauma to the area. They all use temporary tooth replacements until they’re done with the sport. Do you agree with this?
Madison
Dear Madison,
We never stop worrying about our children, do we? Under normal circumstances, we want to get the best replacement possible, and that would be a dental implant. You had the right idea. This is a unique situation, though.
His teammates are correct. A second trauma would be a huge deal with a dental implant because it would take out some bone with it. The damage would be extensive.
I’m glad you had the surgery. It’s okay to have the implant itself placed. You just don’t want to place the dental crown on. That will attach to the crown and rip the implant out if his tooth is damaged again.
Even if you hadn’t already placed the implant, I would have suggested you go forward with that portion. This is so his bone will be preserved while his tooth root is missing. When teeth are removed, the bone where that root was implanted begins to resorb into your body. Your body does that because it realizes that you no longer have a tooth there and it wants to use those resources elsewhere.
Having an implant tells your body you need that bone. The good news is he’s already done the surgical portion. Having the implant in place means his bone will be preserved. That is huge.
In the meantime, you can do a dental flipper or a removable partial denture for his temporary replacement. That would take the implant with it.
I’m glad to hear his teammates are looking after him.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.