Pain after implant placement

The placement of dental implants is usually not accompanied by persistent after pain. If severe pain is present after an implant procedure accompanied by numbness or severe lip tingling it is a sign that the implant procedure mechanically injured a nerve. The implant’s position can be verified with a radiograph. Other times, postoperative implant pain does not occur initially but becomes worsened as time passes. When radiographs are taken, the implant is often nowhere close to a nerve. Such pain is due to a compartmental syndrome. The placed implant induces pressure on the fluid elements of the bone which in turn places pressure on sensory nerves in the vicinity.

When there is initial pain, the patient should immediately receive a cortisone preparation while a decision is made how to precede. Physical evaluation and imaging are required to determine if the implants should be removed. When mild to moderate pain persists after placement and if imaging determines that the implants are not in the vicinity of a major nerve, then an idiopathic nerve injury has occurred and medication is required. Removing implants which are not close to nerve tissue can result in exasperating the pain.
A most perplexing issue occurs when after normal healing, abutment placement is followed by a crown insertion which then causes pain. When the crown is removed from the abutment, the pain vanishes. We are still trying to determine the reason for that kind of pain.

Caveat! Never place implants into any area of your gums where you feel that you have an area that seems to continuously have a burning sensation.