I have Type 1 Diabetes. Is it possible for me to get dental implants or is diabetes a contra-indication?
Carl J.
Dear Carl,
Being diabetic doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t have dental implants. However, your diabetes does have to be under control with your treatment. You’ll also need careful diagnostics, along with special care throughout the entire process. You’ll want to make certain you see a dentist with extensive restorative dental training post dental school, as well as has a lot of experience with a high success rate.
Also, be careful, if your dentist refers you to an oral surgeon because he or she doesn’t do the surgery, you have to take an additional precaution. Make certain your dentist and the surgeon coordinate on the placement of the dental implants before the surgery. If they don’t, what tends to happen is the surgeon places it where he wants, then collects his fee, and you’re left with a dental implant horror story.
Getting a Smile You’re Proud of with Dental Implants
When it comes to dental implants, you also want to consider how your smile will end up looking. There are engineering-minded dentists who will give you a decent functioning smile. However, you’ll also want an artistic dentist. You can get both.
When you have your list of dentists qualified in placing dental implants, go a step further by checking out their smile gallery. Look at the kind of smiles they create, especially with porcelain crowns. This is what your implants will use. Do they look natural? Does the smile reflect light the way our natural teeth do? Do the colors blend in seamlessly with the adjacent teeth? Would you be proud of that smile if it were yours?
If you’re only replacing a few teeth, you may want to have teeth whitening done first. Implant crowns can be made any color. However, once they’re bonded on the color won’t change. You can still whiten your natural teeth, but the crowns will stay the same color. Whitening your teeth first, enables the dentist to create the crowns with the color you’ll want for their lifetime.
If you’re replacing all of your teeth with implant overdentures, this won’t be necessary.
This blog is brought to you by San Antonio Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Imam.