Loose implant bridge

[Darwish]

Hi

I had an implant bridge constructed 20 years ago and over the last few years the bridge has become loose and I can see the metal bit of the implants holding it exposed when I look at it the mirror and occasionally pus comes through the gum around the implant into my mouth which tastes very bad.

The bridge does not actually cause any pain but I am worried that I have a problem with the bridge because of it being loose and I would like to know what I need to do to get this loose implant bridge fixed.

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

The causes for the implant bridge to come loose can be deviled into 3 possibilities:
One is that the bridge attachment to the implant is loose. Some are cement retained bridges and one side of the bridge can be de-bonded and another side well cemented.
The second can be that the attachment to the abutment is sound but the attachment of the abutment to the implant has become loose. This attachment is mostly screw retained and the screws can come loose. In this case the bridge on top of abutment has to be removed and then the screw tightened.
The third possibility is that if the implants themselves become loose and loose their attachment to the bone. In this case the implants have to be removed and you explaining that pus is being discharged from next to the implants and implants being exposed does not sound good and very likely the looseness of the bridge is due to the implants to have failed and loosing their bone attachment. If so you need immediate assessment and the removal of the implants.