Unfortunately, yes. Although advances in dental implant technology have made it a very successful procedure, even for smokers and diabetics, there are still situations where they cannot (or should not) be attempted.
Uncontrolled diabetes – If you are an uncontrolled diabetic, your healing will be adversely affected. You must get your sugar levels under control before attempting dental implant treatment.
Bisphosphonate drug use (especially in I.V. form). Drugs such as Actonel, Boniva, Fosamax, Reclast and Zometa interfere with bone healing and turn over. Sometimes a drug holiday can give us the window we need to place an implant, sometimes it is completely contraindicated. If you have taken any of these medications, please let us know so that appropriate lab tests and physician consultations can be made prior to planning dental implants.
Severe bone loss. Sometimes, so much bone is lost due to an extraction that it would be difficult (or too expensive) to regain enough bone with grafting to successfully place an implant.
The missing tooth space is too small. Sometimes when a tooth is lost, the adjacent teeth drift into the space, making it smaller. Implants require a certain amount of space to place, and situations like this either need orthodontics to open the space, or a fixed bridge must be done.