Implant Surgery & Support
Preventing and treating peri-implantitis
A bacterial infection that destroys the bone and tissue surrounding an integrated implant — and one of the few implant problems that is almost entirely preventable.
How it starts
Peri-implantitis typically begins as peri-implant mucositis — inflammation of the soft tissue alone, with no bone involvement yet. At this stage it is fully reversible.
Untreated, it progresses to bone destruction, and bone lost around an implant does not come back on its own. Because the process often develops without pain, professional monitoring is what catches it while it is still the reversible kind.
Five ways to prevent it
Oral Hygiene
Daily brushing and implant-specific flossing or interdental brushes to stop plaque accumulating at the implant-gum junction.
Regular Maintenance Visits
Professional cleanings every six months, which also give us the probing depths and imaging that detect trouble early.
Smoking Cessation
Quitting reduces infection risk substantially and improves bone healing. This is the single largest modifiable risk factor for most patients who smoke.
Systemic Disease Management
Controlling conditions such as diabetes, coordinated with your physician, because glycaemic control directly affects healing and infection risk.
Surgical Precision
Optimal implant placement using CBCT imaging and computer-guided surgery, so the implant sits in adequate bone with a restoration that can actually be cleaned.
Treatment, stage by stage
Early-stage disease responds well to mechanical debridement — cleaning the implant surface — combined with antimicrobial therapy.
Advanced cases may require surgical intervention to access and decontaminate the implant surface, together with bone grafting to rebuild what has been lost. Many implants are saved with timely treatment.
Where bone loss is extensive, removal and replacement after a healing period may be the only reliable option. That outcome is almost always the end of a process that had visible warning signs months earlier.
Related procedures & comparisons
Questions about your procedure?
Prevention is far easier than treatment once peri-implantitis takes hold. Book your maintenance review on (905) 479-7777.