Do Dental Implants Hurt
and How Long Do They Last?

What actually happens during implant surgery

Before a single implant is placed, the site is numbed with local anaesthetic. You will feel pressure when the drill creates the channel in your jawbone, and you will feel vibration as the titanium post is screwed into position. What you will not feel is pain. Across the implant surgeries performed at Picasso Dental, the most common post-procedure comment is: "That was much easier than I expected."

The surgery itself takes 30 to 60 minutes per implant, depending on bone density and any preparatory steps such as a bone graft or sinus lift. Patients who are anxious can request intravenous sedation, in which case the entire appointment passes in what feels like minutes. We stitch the gum closed afterwards and send you home with prescriptions for pain relief and antibiotics.

Recovery: what the first week looks like

Swelling peaks at day two or three, then resolves steadily. Ice packs applied to the cheek for 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off during the first 24 hours reduce swelling significantly. Most patients manage on ibuprofen alone. A minority require the prescription analgesics we provide as a precaution.

Eat soft foods for the first week: soup, yoghurt, scrambled eggs, soft rice. You do not need to stay home from work. The majority of my patients return to the office the following day. By day five to seven, most report minimal awareness of the site.

Osseointegration: the three-to-six-month wait

After surgery you enter a healing phase called osseointegration, during which your jawbone grows around and fuses with the titanium post. This takes three to six months, depending on bone quality and the location of the implant. You will feel nothing during this period. We fit a temporary tooth so your smile is uninterrupted.

Once we confirm through X-ray that integration is complete, we attach the permanent porcelain crown. From that point, the implant functions identically to a natural tooth: you can eat anything, clean it like any other tooth, and forget it is there.

How long implants last, and what determines longevity

The titanium post does not decay, does not fracture under normal chewing forces, and does not erode with age. Clinical data puts the ten-year success rate above 95 percent. Among the first generation of implant patients from the 1960s, many are still using their original implants decades later.

The porcelain crown is subject to the same wear as a natural tooth. With normal use it typically lasts 15 to 20 years before the ceramics show enough wear to justify replacement. The implant underneath does not need to be touched.

"During my total 4 to 5 hours of treatment on the 2 days of visit, I feel completely relaxed and do not feel any slightest pain during the treatment whosoever."

Wilfred Koh, HCMC Thao Dien

The main causes of implant failure and how to avoid them

Smoking is the single biggest risk factor. Tobacco impairs blood supply to the healing bone and dramatically increases the rate of peri-implantitis, an infection of the tissue around the implant. I always advise patients to stop smoking for at least two weeks before surgery and ideally permanently thereafter.

Uncontrolled diabetes delays healing and increases infection risk. Patients with well-managed diabetes do not face meaningfully higher failure rates than non-diabetic patients. The key word is "well-managed." We request recent HbA1c results for any diabetic patient before scheduling surgery.

Poor oral hygiene after placement is the third major cause. Plaque allowed to accumulate at the implant collar causes peri-implantitis, which can progress to bone loss around the fixture. Twice-daily brushing with a soft brush and daily flossing or water-flossing removes the plaque load before it hardens. Six-monthly professional cleans at any of our branches catch anything that slips through.

Implants versus bridges and dentures

A bridge replaces a missing tooth by crowning the two teeth on either side and suspending a false tooth between them. Those adjacent teeth must be ground down whether they are healthy or not. The bridge also allows bone to resorb underneath the false tooth because there is no root to stimulate the jaw. Bridges typically last ten to fifteen years before needing replacement.

Dentures do not require grinding down natural teeth, but they rest on bone that is actively resorbing. Every year the fit worsens slightly. Relining and eventual replacement is expected every five to ten years. Eating hard or chewy foods remains uncomfortable for many denture wearers throughout their lives.

An implant stands alone, preserves bone, and lets you eat without restriction. The higher upfront cost is offset by the fact that, unlike the alternatives, the implant itself should never need replacing.