The Metal Screw Covering my New Implant Fell off and I Am on Holiday, What Should I Do?

This is not a huge deal, but I would see a dentist in the area that you are vacationing and have it put back in place.  It will only take a couple of minutes and will keep the tissue from closing over the implant.  Good luck. 

The best thing to do would be to take the part that fell off and see a dentist as soon as you can to have it replaced. Since your implant is relatively new, it's critical that it heals properly with all the parts in place. If you can't make it to a dentist until your holiday is over, be sure to gently clean the area free of debris at least twice a day. If you can gently rinse with warm salt water for 30 seconds every night for a few days that would be good to kill any bacteria in the area. 

Thank you for your question. On occasion, cover screws can get loose and fall out. The best thing to do is see a dentist at your first opportunity. Any dentist working with implants can place it back.

Under normal circumstances, if an implant cover screw were to come off the implant, it would be best to have it placed back on the implant right away.  The reason we like for it to go back is that the soft tissue is maturing around this cover screw and if the implant is left uncovered (without the cover screw) the soft tissue will collapse into the platform head of the implant.  The soft tissue collapse will lead to difficulty in connecting the head of the implant to the implant abutment causing a misfit.  Even if tissue collapse were to occur due to extended time without the implant cover screw, the problem can easily be corrected by having a dental laser cut through the soft tissue with a high energy wavelength that will not overheat the implant.  This is critical if we are looking for a favorable long term prognosis for the implant restoration.  

Save the screw, also the tooth most likely will stay in without the screw, I suggest you place a small piece of cotton in the hole and if you know what type of implant and you have the screw most dentist who do implant dentistry should be able to scew it back in good luck

 

Kevin Coughlin DMD, MBA, MAGD     CEO  Baystate Dental PC