Swelling of the left side of my face after the dentist rescrewed a dental implant screw which had come of. What to do?

Question

After 2 months of getting my dental implants, one of the screws came off so I went to the dentist. The dentist took it from my hand and without sterilizing or disinfecting it straight away screwed it back in place very tightly. When I reached home I had a lot of discomfort and the next morning my entire lt face was swollen. I called the dentist and told him about it and he just asked me to take some anti inflammatory and antibiotics. Should I go to some other dentist and get the screw removed?

Nirav Patel, MDS, PhD · Answer

Gum tissue grows fast and that's why after re-tightening of that screw, swelling up to 3 days is common. so take medicine and wait for 3 days. if any issue after that visit your dentist.

Jyoti Singh, MDS · Answer

If the titanium implant has become lose after 2months then it's unlikely that it will fuse with the bone again just like that with replacement. Just take an X-ray and share if possible if your face still has swelling. There can be a risk of reinfection. Start doing warm saline gargles and go for a check up in the vicinity.

Amber Garcia, DDS · Answer

The screw that goes into the implant only touches the implant. There is no way replacing a screw into an implant would cause an infection. It's more likely that when the screw was tightened, it pushed the gums a bit and put some pressure on them. That can cause some inflammation and takes a few days to subside as your gums react to that pressure.

Swelling of the left side of my face after the dentist rescrewed a dental implant screw which had come of. What to do?

Answers (3)