Dental implants are the closest thing you can get to natural teeth – artificially. Once implanted into your mouth, you can go on to live as you would normally with your real teeth – smiling, laughing, eating, talking and more!
How Tooth Implants Work:
Once dental implants are placed in your jawbone, they bond with your natural bone, thus becoming a sturdy base for supporting one or more artificial teeth (crowns).
One and Two Stage Placements:
There are two types of placements of implants:
1. Extraction of the tooth, placement of implant are the same day if the conditions are right. There has to be enough bone and no active infection. Grafting is recommended.
2. Extraction of a tooth with bone graft, wait a few months then uncover implant, place healing abutment. Allow tissue to heal then restore.
When to restore will be determine based on strength of Ostell reading done when implant is placed.
All implants in our office will be placed using Guided implant surgery.
How Does The Dental Procedure Work?
1. CBCT taken of patient.
2. Intra-oral Scan done
3. Scan and CBCT sent to lab where technicians and we then use a special software to determine the ideal placement of the implant(s) based on where the final restoration needs to go. Everything is restoration based. We will use the software to determine specific measurements and where the best bone is located. This helps us to plan the case and determine if and where any grafting will be needed and if case will need to be done in single or multi-stages, as well as determine the size and length of the implant to be placed.
4. We will then make and design the surgical guide which is custom fit for the patient. It corresponds with the exact placement and size of the implant that is selected for the patient based off all the measurements done by the technicians at the lab and paient’s consultation with us
5. We then use this guide when placing the implant. This allows the implant to be placed at the precise location and depth to be restored most appropriately avoiding any vital anatomical structure such as nerves that could leave the patient with a numb lip due to poor implant placement.
6. Once the implant is placed an Ostell reading will be taken. The implant will have 1 of three things done:
- 1. A healing screw will be placed in the implant and it will be completely covered up for several months while the implant has time to integrate with the bone. This would be completely under the gums.
- 2. A healing abutment will be placed, which will allow the soft tissue to start to heal like it would around the new crown. The patient would actually see this abutment.
- 3. A temporary abutment can be placed with a temporary crown while the tissue starts to heal to get ready to scan for the final crown.
7. Every case will be a little different based on the amount of bone and condition of soft tissue, health of the patient, how well they heal, and how well they follow post op instructions. There are multiple factors involved in the success of an implant. We take our time and use all the latest technology. Therefore the cost may be higher than some offices that do not use guided implant surgery. There are many extra costs incurred to us by doing the procedure this way. It is what is best for the patient.
When looking for a dentist to place implants we highly recommend that you ask more than just for the price. You should always ask if the surgery is done guided. Will they take a CBCT first and will it be read by a licensed radiologist prior to surgery? Will they take an Ostell reading prior to restoration? Do they use custom abutments with genuine parts?
Here at Foote Family Dental Care, we use state of the art scanners and dental equipment to provide our dental implant services.
Schedule a consultation with us today to find out how you can benefit from our dental implant services.