Can You Connect a Tooth to an Implant?

In general connecting a tooth to an implant is a last resort and is extremely RARE. In general, it is NOT a good idea because it tends to fail early.

Tooth connected to implant

After just 3 years …failing tooth connected to implant.

This was more common in the past. It was popular in the 1970’ through about 1989.

It seems to make sense but why doesn’t it work?

Healthy natural teeth ‘move’ way more than implants.

Implants are essentially rigidly fixated to your jaw with very little “micro motion.”

Our teeth are able to ‘give’ a bit with shock absorbers. The shocks are called the PDL – periodontal ligament.

Implants do not have a ligament.

When you try to connect an implant to a tooth, the two move differently when you bite. Because of this the tooth crown part of the bridge gets pushed in (intruded) and starts to decay the tooth. The implant is usually ok.

In order to do this in RARE cases it can not be designed like this attached case!

It takes a special dentist and lab to make this work. The bridge either has to have a telescopic crown or a specialized stress breaking keyway.

Questions??

Ramsey A. Amin, D.D.S.

Diplomate of the American Board of Oral Implantology /Implant Dentistry

Fellow-American Academy of Implant Dentistry

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