Dental Implants

What are dental implants?

Dental implants are small titanium posts that mimic your natural tooth roots. They provide a firm, durable foundation for oral restorations like crowns, bridges, or implant-supported dentures. 

Dental implants don’t rely on your existing permanent teeth for support. Instead, the team places them into your jaw during an outpatient procedure. Following surgery, your bone extends around each implant, fusing them to your jaw.

What are the advantages of dental implants?

Dental implants provide a variety of advantages compared to traditional dental restorations, including:

• Easier eating
• Easier speaking
• Improved oral health
• Durability
• Convenience

Dental implants can also help you appear younger. If you’re missing permanent teeth, the skin around your mouth tends to sag, wrinkle, and fold. Implants restore structure to your jaw, minimizing these imperfections.

Can anyone get dental implants?

To get dental implants, you need enough jawbone to support them and healthy gums. The team can take a series of scans with the on-site cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) machine to assess the health of your gums and tooth roots. If your jaws are atrophied or you have gum disease, the team might recommend a bone graft or scaling and root planing before continuing treatment. 

Let the team know if you have a chronic health problem like high blood pressure, kidney disease, or diabetes. Issues like these won’t necessarily keep you from getting implants, but they can increase the risk of complications, including implant failure.

What does getting dental implants involve?

Getting dental implants typically takes a series of three or more appointments spaced over the course of six months to a year.

If the team determines you’re a good candidate, they administer a local anesthetic and place a number of metal posts into your jaw. Following treatment, you return home for several months while your bone fuses to each implant.

Several months later, you return to The Center for High Tech Dentistry. The team uses the on-site cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) system to take X-rays and the full mouth digital scanner to take impressions. They send your impressions to a dental laboratory that manufactures your bridge, implant-supported dentures, or custom crowns. 

If you’re only getting one or two implants, the team manufactures your crowns on-site with the CEREC® milling machine.

About a week later, you return to the office for your final appointment. The team bonds your restorations to the top of the implants, restoring your smile to its healthy, near-original condition.

What other implant procedures are offered?

The team at The Center for High Tech Dentistry offers a wide range of implant-related procedures, including:

• Diagnosis and treatment planning
• Implant placement
• Bone grafting
• Sinus lifts
• All-on-4® and All-on-6® dental implants
• Fixed restorations
• Removable restorations

To see if you qualify for dental implants, request a consultation at The Center for High Tech Dentistry. Book online to schedule an appointment or call the office today.