Implant Maintenance with Radiographs

In our last article we explained the importance of cleaning and maintaining implant retained crowns and bridges, how it is important to carefully massage the tissue around the implant for exudate, and probing for bleeding.

It is also crucial that radiographs are used in your maintenance program.

When the implant is restored, a periapical radiograph should be taken to confirm seating of the crown.

This baseline radiograph provides information about the status and quality of the bone.

Yearly radiographs should then be taken for five years and biannually thereafter. These radiographs must be compared to the original baseline radiograph to assess changes in the bone levels and the bone margin around the implant. Over time it should be possible to determine an increase in radiopacity as the bone density increases.

The bone level around the implant should be stable, if there is any change then please inform The Implant Centre.