Why Do Dental Implants Fail?: A Single Center Experience

Abstract

Dental implants demonstrate high long-term success; however, failures still occur because of multifactorial biological, mechanical, and patient-related factors. This retrospective single-center study evaluated implant failures at a private clinic in Benghazi, Libya, over eight years (2016–2023). Among 1,602 implants placed in 791 patients, 46 implants failed, yielding an overall failure rate of 2.8%. Early failures were primarily associated with smoking, impaired healing, poor bone quality, and compromised periodontal health, whereas late failures were predominantly related to parafunctional habits, particularly bruxism, resulting in prosthetic and mechanical complications. Careful preoperative assessment, periodontal management, smoking cessation, and long-term maintenance are essential to minimize implant failure and improve treatment outcomes.