People are living longer, and while regular care helps maintain natural smiles, sometimes our teeth can’t keep up. If you’ve lost teeth due to injury or disease, dental implants can restore your smile and oral health.

A dentist places an implant, a synthetic tooth root shaped like a post, surgically into the jawbone. The dentist typically uses titanium for the “root,” as it integrates well with human bone. Afterward, the dentist attaches a replacement tooth to the post. Depending on your needs, the dentist can either secure the tooth permanently or make it removable. Permanent teeth are more stable and feel more like natural teeth.

The ideal implant candidate is a non-smoker with good oral health, sufficient jawbone, and healthy gums free of disease.

SINGLE OR MULTIPLE IMPLANTS

If you’re missing only one tooth, a single implant and replacement tooth will suffice. However, if you’re missing several consecutive teeth, a few strategically placed implants can support a permanent bridge to replace them. Additionally, if you’ve lost all of your teeth, a dentist can permanently secure a full bridge or full denture in your mouth using a carefully planned number of implants.

ADVANTAGES OVER DENTURES OR BRIDGES

Conventional bridges and dentures do not attach to the bone, which can make them unstable. This can make it difficult to eat or smile with confidence. Implants not only look more natural, but feel and act more like normal teeth, with a stronger biting force. And because they don’t directly rely on neighboring teeth for support, implants don’t compromise the health of your natural teeth. In fact, bridges typically last only seven to ten years, even less with root canals, while implants usually last a lifetime.

POST-TREATMENT CARE

Consider your replacement teeth to be the same as natural teeth. They require the same daily brushing and flossing, and the same amount of regular checkups. Just like your natural teeth, the better you take care of your replacements, the longer they will last.

IMPLANT SERVICES

Our implant services include:

• • Sinus Lift Augmentation: Often the sinuses will enlarge following loss of the upper back teeth.
    A sinus lift augmentation/graft is a surgical procedure that restores the sinus cavity to its original size and replaces the bone lost due to the enlarged sinus. When the upper back areas of the mouth cannot support dental implants due to the air-filled sinus, a sinus lift augmentation/graft becomes necessary. This procedure replaces the lost bone and restores the sinus cavity to its original size. The bone graft typically heals within nine to 12 months before placing dental implants into the newly grafted bone.

• • Autogenous Bone Grafting: Occasionally, the ideal areas for dental implants do not have sufficient bone quantity to support the implants. In these cases, it is often necessary to “borrow” bone from another area of your mouth and graft it into the deficient area. Often, the area of choice is from the chin or in the back of the jaw where your wisdom teeth used to be.

• • Implant Site Development: When a tooth is removed due to infection, the surrounding bone may be lost as well. In these cases, we can perform various bone grafting procedures at the same time as the tooth extraction to prepare for dental implant placement in the future.

• • Computer-Enhanced Treatment Planning: We have a 3DCT scanner that allows us to evaluate your dental CT scan in three dimensions for bone quality, bone quantity, and bone location, enabling the best possible placement of your dental implants. This also allows us to work closely and smoothly with your restorative dentist to ensure an ideal result where your dental implants are concerned.

• • Implant Maintenance: Once your dental implant restoration is completed, it is important to keep the area clean and infection-free. Dental implants can accumulate plaque and tartar just as teeth can. Whether you have just one tooth replaced by an implant or several, a professional cleaning schedule will be necessary to keep your implants healthy. The time interval for these professional cleanings will be determined by your individual needs.