Are you someone with diabetes? Whether it is type 1 or type 2, you probably spend quite a bit of time managing the condition. You know that it can pose certain challenges in many areas of life, apart from your diet. Perhaps one area of concern to you is your dental health as it relates to your diabetes. At KC Smile in Overland Park, KS, we understand how difficult it can be to make treatment decisions if worried about your condition, and so we wanted to focus on the issue of dental implants and diabetes.
Some Basics About Dental Implants and Diabetes
As your trusted dentist in Overland Park, we believe that patient education is essential. Because of that, we wanted to review why implant dentistry has been described as something unavailable to those with diabetes, and more importantly, why that is false.
While it is true that those with diabetes may experience challenges with:
- Healing (typically healing much slower than people without diabetes)
- Struggles against gum disease (which is due to the challenges with healing)
- Implant rejection (also due to slow healing causing osseointegration to fail)
The reality is that dental implants and diabetes are never, ever mutually exclusive. In other words, it is entirely possible for someone with diabetes to have one or more dental implants. This is because it is not actually diabetes that is the issue. Instead, it is uncontrolled diabetes that can cause problems.
Typically, our dental implants specialist is going to review all of the relevant facts with our patients in order to help them understand whether their condition is going to make this highly desirable form of restorative dentistry impossible. For example, they are going to discuss the status of your diabetes. They are going to consider the health of your gums, ensuring no gum disease is present. They will also look at your overall oral health.
Schedule a Consultation with Our Implant Dentist Today
For the most part, our patients with controlled diabetes are just as much candidates for implants as those without the condition. If you are concerned about dental implants and diabetes, and how this can affect your chances for enjoying a successful treatment, get in touch. Give us a call at our Overland Park, KS office at 913-491-6874. You can also use our online contact form and one of our staff will get back to you promptly.