ARE DENTAL IMPLANTS AN OPTION FOR ME?

If you are considering dental implants, your mouth will be examined thoroughly and your dental and medical history will be reviewed to ensure that dental implants are appropriate for you. Dental x-rays and, frequently, panoramic (or complete) x-rays of your jaws will be taken to evaluate your jawbone and to determine if it will accommodate implants. Occasionally, more detailed information is required and can be provided by more specialized digital or CAT scan x-rays. They will help determine if additional tests or procedures are needed to place your implants properly.

WHAT IS A DENTAL IMPLANT?

The best way to describe a dental implant is to compare it to a real tooth. A natural tooth consists of a root and a crown. The part of the tooth that you see and eat with is called the crown. Beneath the crown is the root, which anchors the tooth to the jawbone and extends through the gum tissue. When you lose a tooth, you lose both the root and the crown. To replace a tooth, we first have to replace the root. Essentially, a dental implant is a new root.

Dental implants come in various shapes and sizes and have different types of surfaces. The actual implant selection will depend on a variety of factors related to your specific treatment needs. Once an implant has been placed in the jaw, the bone around the implant will need to heal for two to six months, depending upon how hard the bone is. When this initial phase of healing is completed, a support post called an abutment will be placed into the implant itself and then a new crown will be placed on top. If all of your teeth are missing, a variety of treatment options are available to support the replacement teeth.

HOW ARE IMPLANTS RESTORED?

Your restorative treatment begins with specialized impressions to produce a replica of your mouth and implants. We will also make "bite" records to see the relationship of your upper and lower jaws.

The number of appointments and the amount of time required for each appointment is different for each patient. No two cases are exactly the same and regardless of the number of teeth replaced, the work must be completed with great precision and attention to detail. If you are having only a few teeth replaced, there may be as few as three short appointments. Between appointments, the time is used to complete the necessary lab work to make your replacement teeth.

If your final restoration is a removable denture, you will need as many as five office appointments (although it may be fewer) over the following several months. During these appointments, we performs a series of impressions, bites and adjustments in order to make your new teeth as well as the custom support bars, snaps, or clips that will secure your teeth to the implants. During this period every effort will be made to insure that you have comfortable temporary replacement teeth.

In general, once your implants are placed, you can expect your treatment to be completed anywhere from 4 to 12 months. It may be difficult in some cases to give you a specific time frame for completion of your treatment until after the implants are ready for restoration.

 

HOW ARE DENTAL IMPLANTS PLACED?

Usually, the office procedure to place a dental implant takes about an hour to and hour and a half for one implant and no more than two or three hours for multiple implants. The placement process consists of the following steps:

You will be given prescriptions for your medications such as antibiotics and pain relievers to begin prior to the surgery. In most cases a local anesthetic (Novocain) will be used to numb the area. You may request oral sedation or intravenous sedation. If sedation is utilized, the local anesthetic will still be administered to numb the areas where the implant/s will be placed. After you are comfortable, a small incision is made into the gum tissue, revealing the bone into which the implant will be placed. Using special instruments, a socket is carefully created. The implant is then inserted into the socket. Finally, if necessary, sutures will be used.

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