Dental Implants
Dental implant surgery is a procedure that replaces tooth roots with titanium, screw-like posts and replaces damaged or missing teeth with artificial teeth that look and function much like real ones. Dental implant surgery can offer a welcome alternative to dentures or bridgework that doesn’t fit well.
How dental implant surgery is performed depends on the type of implant and the condition of your jawbone. But all dental implant surgery occurs in stages and may involve several procedures. The major benefit of implants is solid support for your new teeth — a process that requires the bone to heal tightly around the implant. Because this healing requires time, the process can take many months.
Dental implants are surgically placed in your jawbone, where they serve as the roots of missing teeth. Because the titanium in the implants fuses with your jawbone, the implants won’t slip, make noise or cause bone damage the way fixed bridgework or dentures might. And the materials can’t decay like your own teeth that support regular bridgework can.
How missing teeth affect your bone health?
- All teeth are in place
- A missing tooth leads to movement of the adjacent teeth and loss of bone tissue
- The bone beneath the missing tooth melts away and leaves a visible defect
- All teeth are present in the lower jaw
- The bone starts to resorb at the place of the missing tooth
- The loss of bone over time might be significant
- All teeth are present in the lower jaw
- Complete toothlessness leads to a reduction of the jaw
- Significant reduction of the jaws leads to a collapse of the facial muscles
Treatment Options
- Mobile partial prosthesis
- Fixed dental bridge
- Crown over an implant
- Partial prosthesis
- Fixed dental bridge (the abutment teeth are prepared for placement of the bridge)
- Fixed bridge over an implant
- Mobile total prosthesis
- Total prosthesis over an implant
- Fixed circular bridge over implants that replaces all of the missing teeth