How Long Can I Wait Before Getting a Dental Implant?

Hi

Once tooth is extracted and grafted, I usually wait about 5-6 months before I place an implant. Although if it is longer, it is often fine. The graft tends to preserve the bone and stays stable for much later.

 

Dr. Kazemi

Hi there, 
Sine you need to wait typically at least 6-8 weeks for the graft to integrate to the host bed, you’ve got 2 months of wait time right there already. Typically, you should try and get your implant placed within about 6 months after grafting. Any longer and you risk loss of bone again. Good luck! 

Ideally you want to wait 4-6 months. The longer one waits after an extraction and bone graft, the bone density and height starts to decrease over time. There is no "hard and fast" rule in regards to how long to wait. That would depend on factors like age, health, and position of missing tooth/space in the mouth. Please understand that missing teeth create gaps. Teeth then start to shift and drop into the space. So in addition to possibly requiring extra bone grafting procedures over time, you may also need braces and orthodontic tooth movement. So don't wait too long. Maximum a year to two years. 

It depends on the severity of the infection, the location of the tooth and the condotion  of your health. Not knowing all these prarameters,   i can only give some broad guidelines. If  the infection is vsevere and broad and there is a lot of pus and exudates, it may not be prudent to do the bone grafting on the day of extraction as the success of the will decrease because of the highly acidic environment.  sometimes it is better to wait six to eight weeks and go back in the extraction site and graft.  once the socket is grafted depending on the location (top or bottom jaw), the current protocol is wait a minimum of 8 to 12 weeks before the implant is placed. If you are not ready to place the implant right away, it is ok to wait for to a year.  Keeping in mind that the other teeth are shifting into the empty space.  if in doubt, search the advice of a dentist who is familiar with implant treatment.

  I would not wait longer than 12 months to implant as the area of bone will atrophy and then you might not be able to have an implant without having more bone grafting.  In addition,  teeth work together as partners and when one tooth is removed the other teeth can shift in response.  The teeth shifting that can occur varies from person to person but the teeth can shift and make the implant restoration difficult or impossible.  Once the infected tooth is removed and the area is bone grafted, the implant can be placed as early as 3 to 4 months after the extraction.  You might want to consider care credit and get the procedure done and not risk any further deterioration.