How in any case could this be thinkable ? Any medical doctor is obliged to "deliver state-of-the-art-work" after an informed consent (risks of non-osseoimtegration, post-surgical implant-loss due to infection, short- and long-term implant loss due to periimplantitis/overload etc.) by the patient. No physician is responsible or can guarantee the success of a treatment even if performed stat-of-the-art. The patient has to KNOW that keeping the implants means: to clean it more careful than the tooth the patient lost in the same spot (which is the reason for the implant). Patient also has to know that and to agree that dental implants (like any other implant - hips, knees etc. - in the mammal body) have an unknown life-span inside the bone depending on so many factors that no physician ever will be able to calculate. Theeth get lost, joints "get lost", skin elasticity gets lost, regenerative capacities get lost in the process of deterioration by aging.
No dental implant is forever.
ONLY in case the implant was not inserted and prosthetically treated state-of-the-art (taking into consideration the more than wide range of scientific opinions) THEN a jury of experts has to decide if it was malpractice or not.
Why do we discuss and investigate "success-rates" (1yr./2yrs.,5yrs) in implant-procedures ? Because we look for concepts to get as close as possible to 100% which we will never ever achieve. That means: implants WILL get lost by no means and the patient has to know that before his decision to take the risks .........
NO!
I assume that there has been informed consent and the dentist is able to deliver a state of the art procedure.
Dear colleague
I totally agree with Sir Angelo and what is required to be factored in is that the success outcome depends on case to case basis and other factors like age, health and habits too determine the success of the implant. Long live the patient with healthy implant in the coming years ...
Malpractice implies a deviation from the "Standard of Care." Assuming that the implant was placed and restored properly, there is no deviation therefore no medical liability. Also, as was stated in other replies, the proper informed consent needs to be obtained stating there is no guarantee of success.
We deal with alive tissues, who can predict optimum healing or performance 100 percent. For any medical implants there is a success rate which is multifactorial. Preoperativ Informed consent is very important.
I don't think so if all indications for its placement are in the patient. On the other hand, I do believe some sort of candour must be in place to compensate patients for failures if it is iatrogenic. Nothing is guaranteed in this field to satisfy the patient.
In Medicine as well as in Dentistry there is no 100% success in any treatment. Success of a treatment depends not only on the operator but also on many other factors including the host condition. Do we guarantee our patient that his tooth will last as long as he lives?...Patient has to understand and sign consent after getting a proper explanation from his dentist.
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