My husband is in the process of getting all-on-4 dental implants. He already has the implants screwed in and has temporary acrylic teeth. The permanent teeth will be porcelain. Here is the problem we are facing. I have chemical sensitivities and his dental implants smell like rubber to me. I can’t even sleep next to him at the moment it smells so bad. His dentist insists he needs the titanium implants and not the metal-free ones, but that may just be because he doesn’t want to re-do his work. He also insists there would be no smell with the implants. What do I do?
Alison
Dear Alison,
Dental Implant Diagram
I don’t know much about your husband’s specific case as I have not examined him, so I cannot advise as to which type of dental implants he needs. I can tell you that one area where your husband’s dentist is correct is with the smell. Titanium is quite inert and does not have any smell. You can even ask your dentist to smell one that he has in his office that hasn’t been used yet. In addition to that, the titanium is embedded into his bone. That makes it impossible to smell.
You mentioned your husband’s temporary teeth are made from acrylic. This does give off a slight smell. If he has some food debris collecting in the temporary teeth, that would also add to the smell. If that is the case, your husband would benefit from a Waterpik, which will help clean out some debris from under his temporary denture. He could also rinse with some hydrogen peroxide, but I would not recommend doing it more than once a week or he risks getting an oral yeast infection.
What you don’t want him to do is switch out his dental implants. This is not just because I don’t believe the implants are the problem, but because switching them would be a huge problem for your husband. If you remove his dental implants, a significant amount of bone will come with it. Then, in order to get different implants, he will need an additional surgical procedure known as bone grafting. Once that was completed he’ll need a time of healing before he can even begin again with dental implants from scratch.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.