My husband is getting the all-on-4 dental implants. He’s had the implants placed and is currently wearing acrylic dentures while his porcelain ones are being made. The problem we are facing is that his mouth smells awful. I am worried that the metal implants are reacting inside his body somehow and causing that smell. It’s making me gag when I’m near him. I want him to trade out the metal implants for the zirconia ones but his dentist has told him not to do that. Am I just supposed to spend the rest of my life feeling sick around his mouth?
Karen
Dear Karen,
I honestly don’t think that it is the dental implants are what you are smelling. Traditional dental implants are made from titanium. These are very biocompatible. They have decades of data behind them in use as prosthetics throughout the human body and they really don’t react. In fact, they are so inert, that even out of the mouth, there would not be a smell. You could ask your husband’s dentist if you can smell one.
What you may be smelling is food getting trapped in his temporary dentures. That would lead to bacteria and a horrible smell. Trying a WaterPik could help him get all the debris out when he brushes at night.
Switching dental implants is not as simple as taking some out and putting in new ones. Bone structure will be lost when they’re removed, so he will need a bone grafting procedure done in order to have new implants. Then once that is healed he can have new implants placed. That is three additional surgeries, all of which can have complications or fail. When he has successful implants, there is no reason to cause him all those additional surgeries and risk failure.
This blog is brought to you by Ahwatukee Dentist Dr. Harveer Kaur.
Click here to learn how we strive to keep our prices affordable.