Appearances aren’t your only concern when looking for a prosthetic to replace one or more teeth. It’s just as important that the restoration functions properly in your mouth so that you can eat whatever you want and maintain excellent oral health. To this end, many of Dr. Volker’s patients have benefited from anchoring their crowns, bridges, or dentures to dental implants. If you’re missing any number of teeth or want to give your current prosthetic an upgrade, call Dent-Care Dental to ask for a consultation to discuss options for replacing missing teeth with dental implants in Sunnyside.
Implants are titanium posts that are shaped like screws. Instead of resting on the gums or natural teeth, they are inserted into the jaw itself. Crowns and other types of prosthetic teeth are attached to the posts via small devices called abutments. This way, your new teeth can benefit from having “roots” that prevent them from slipping and enhance their chewing power. Each patient will receive a different number of implant posts depending on their needs.
Today’s dental implants take longer to get than other replacement teeth, with treatment often spanning several months and multiple phases. Even so, you can rest assured they’re worth the time and effort involved! DentCare Dental Center partners with local implant experts to place these posts, ensuring you get the best results possible. The overall treatment process involves just four major steps: consultation, surgery, osseointegration, and delivery of the final restoration(s).
At the start of your treatment, you’ll meet our dentists for a brief consultation. This session lets us confirm your restoration goals, oral health history, and other relevant factors. By closely reviewing these details, we’ll determine whether dental implants suit you and adjust your final treatment plan.
Please don’t worry if you don’t initially qualify for treatment. As it happens, you can become a good implant candidate through extra dental work – gum disease therapy, tooth extraction(s), etc. These services would prepare and strengthen your mouth to support dental implants.
You’ll undergo a dental implant surgery should we decide to move forward with treatment. For that procedure, we’ll pair you with local dental implant experts; they’ll be the ones to place your posts. You can trust these surgeons to provide you with fantastic results.
In itself, the dental implant surgery will feature the following:
Your dental implant(s) will start fusing with your jaw shortly after placement. In general, this fusion process (i.e., osseointegration) takes about 4-6 months and keeps your posts rooted. It thus ensures that your new “teeth” become permanent parts of your mouth.
Once the implant fusion is done, you’ll attend a follow-up surgery. This procedure will place an abutment (i.e., a metal connector) on your implant post. While you recover from this abutment work, we’ll use our in-house dental laboratory to craft your final restoration.
We’ll deliver your implant’s final restoration at the end of your treatment. More specifically, our team will set a dental prosthetic that “matches up” with how many teeth you’ve lost. This device could be a dental crown, dental bridge, or implant denture, depending on your case.
Fitting your final restoration shouldn’t take that long. After applying dental cement to your abutment, we’ll just make some last-minute changes and ensure the post fits well. You can then head out and enjoy your newly restored smile!
Regular bridges and dentures have plenty of advantages, but as far as new teeth are concerned, dental implants are considered to be in a class of their own. By stimulating the jaw, they encourage the body to maintain the bone so that it doesn’t break down in the future. Other benefits include:
A healthy mouth and a strong jawbone are needed before dental implant placement. Each case of tooth loss is different, so the process itself will vary depending on your needs. At your initial consultation, we will discuss the different avenues available for restoring your smile and outline each of the processes.
After an extraction or accident, a single tooth can be replaced with just one implant post. We can restore it with a dazzling dental crown made from the finest ceramic. When designed and placed properly, the implant and crown will make sure your remaining teeth don’t drift into the gap the original tooth left behind. Additionally, implant crowns offer a less invasive answer to replacing a missing tooth than traditional bridges, as no alteration of your surrounding teeth is necessary.
Two implants are enough to support multiple replacement teeth at once. Specifically, they can hold a dental bridge that’s filling in a gap left by at least three teeth in a row. Putting bridges on implants instead of natural teeth helps you preserve more of your remaining enamel in the long run, which is typically the healthier option.
Are you tired of dentures that slip at awkward moments and need to be constantly removed for cleanings? With just four to six implant posts, it’s possible for an entire arch of new teeth to be permanently fixed in your mouth, where your prosthetic won’t move and can be brushed and flossed normally.
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Paying for dental implants is a long-term investment; other replacement options might seem less costly at first, but unlike implants (which can easily last decades), they’re likely to need to be replaced multiple times in the future. Keep this in mind when asking about the cost of implant surgery. Also, the price will vary depending on the number of necessary posts as well as other factors that we’ll discuss with you.
Over the past few years, dental implants have become the most popular solution for missing teeth. That’s mainly because of their ability to restore a beautiful, complete, and fully functioning smile for a lifetime! Of course, that’s only the case if you take proper care of them. By following the right precautions, you can keep your smile in its very best shape for years to come. If you’d like to learn how to maintain your implants properly, continue reading or give our office a call today!
Just because dental implants can’t get cavities doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to loosen up on your oral hygiene routine. Brushing twice a day, flossing daily, and rinsing every day with an ADA-approved mouthwash are essential to keep your mouth free of harmful bacteria. Otherwise, failing to take care of your newly improved grin can potentially cause bone and tooth loss.
Once fully healed, you’ll be able to eat almost any food you want! However, you want to avoid overindulging in sugary, acidic, and starchy foods. Doing so can be problematic, causing serious issues for your dental implants. Instead, maintain a diet full of nutrient-rich foods like whole grains, lean proteins, fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Eating foods rich in calcium and vitamin C will help you keep your jawbone strong and oral tissues healthy!
Do you smoke? Chew on pens or pencils? Bite your fingernails? Use your teeth as tools? These habits may seem harmless, but they can be detrimental to your smile. Unless you break these poor habits, your chances of damaging your teeth or experiencing dental implant failure are much higher. It’s a good idea to keep sugar-free gum in your pocket in case you ever feel tempted to chew on a non-food item. If you need help quitting smoking, ask your dentist for help! They can provide you with the support, resources, and guidance you need to make the feat as easy as possible.
If you regularly play sports or grind your teeth at night, ask our team at Dent-Care Dental about a custom-made oral device. An athletic mouthguard can protect your pearly whites from any impact should you sustain a blow to the face. Meanwhile, a nightguard can keep your enamel safe from the force of grinding your teeth at night.
Aside from good oral hygiene, you must visit your dentist regularly to keep your mouth in tip-top shape. If you come in every six months for a checkup and cleaning, we can monitor your implants and ensure no problems are developing. With early intervention, we can help you avoid experiencing painful complications down the line.
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Unlike traditional dentures and bridges that must be replaced every five to 10 years, dental implants can last for over 3 decades. You can even rely on them for the rest of your life, however their success depends directly on your health and lifestyle. To get the most out of your dental implants, brush twice a day and floss once a day. Additionally, use nonalcoholic mouthwash daily for a more thorough cleaning. Do your best to avoid chewing on extra hard or sticky foods, and don’t use your smile as a tool. Lastly, visit our office for regular checkups and quit using tobacco products (if you do) because they promote infection.
No – dental implants are surgically placed in the jawbone to mimic tooth roots, which is why they cannot be removed except by a dental professional. Dental implants fuse to the bone during a process called osseointegration. This is possible because the tooth replacement is made of biocompatible materials, allowing it to become a permanent part of the body. However, some implant dentures are designed so the denture can be taken out for cleaning. These are sometimes called Snap-On dentures, giving patients the option to pop their denture in and out easily with the stability of dental implants.
Many people learn that implants require surgery and quickly assume that the procedure is painful. However, it’s much more comfortable than you may have guessed. We always numb the mouth with local anesthetic, plus we offer various sedation options for a deeper sense of calm and relaxation. One factor that makes this procedure virtually painless is that the jawbone doesn’t contain very many pain-sensing nerves. The surgery itself shouldn’t hurt, but it’s normal to experience some slight soreness and discomfort after the procedure.
You can enjoy confidence and peace of mind knowing that dental implants have a success rate of 95% even after 10 years. This tried-and-true tooth replacement is a great option for most patients with good health. Problems like low jawbone density or gum disease can cause your implants to fail, however these issues can also be addressed with preliminary treatments. During an initial consultation, we will review your medical history and examine your mouth. If you have cancer, diabetes, or other medical conditions that may negatively impact surgery, we can discuss your specific case during an appointment.
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