Dental Implants
When you are missing a tooth or several teeth, dental implants can be the solution to replacing what was lost, with something that feels and functions like a normal tooth. Rather than having a removable partial or bridge, you can have an implant replace your missing tooth or teeth.  Dental implants are basically artificial roots (usually titanium) that are surgically placed in the area of the missing tooth, and then restored with an implant crown.  Dental implants are very strong, durable, and stable and will last for many years.

 Reasons for Dental Implants:

• Replace one or more missing teeth without affecting the adjacent teeth next to the space
• Restore chewing, speech and digestion (caused by inability to chew properly)
• Restore and enhance facial profile and fullness of lips
• Support a denture, to increase retention and stability
• Eliminate flippers or  removable partial dentures
• Maintain bone around a missing tooth, preventing damage to adjacent teeth from bone loss due to the extraction
• Eliminate extra space in the mouth caused by tooth loss, which would eventually lead to shifting of teeth beside the space, above or below it, and resulting in a collapse of the bite.     

 Whether it's given or received, the warmth of a smile has a powerful effect!

 What does having Dental Implants involve?                 

Implant placement requires a number of visits, careful planning and timing.  When a tooth is extracted, a bone graft should immediately be placed on the day of surgery in order to maintain the height of the bone.  There are times when an implant can immediately be placed, but ideally the extraction site should be grafted and allowed time to heal for several months.  A temporary can be worn if there is a cosmetic concern.

X-rays, models of the mouth, and sometimes CAT Scans are taken of the jaw, sinuses, and teeth to determine if there is adequate bone,  gum tissue, and space for an implant. Once planned and studied, if the area is healthy enough to receive an implant, the implant is placed and covered back up for a minimum of six months to allow the implant to fully integrate with the jaw.  Once this happens, the area is prepared to receive an implant abutment and crown, in a process very similar to having a crown made.  Once the final crown is made, it is cemented into place.  You can eat, chew, and floss your teeth just like you would normally do.
   
Before- Missing     Implant placed     Implant w/ temp    Final result

                                                                                                                            Back to Top
Mini-Implants   

There is another type of implant, called a mini-implant.  Mini-implants are smaller versions of a regularly sized implant, that is often used to anchor a denture.  Anyone who has ever had to deal with the movement, inability to chew food, and embarrassment that a lower denture, or even an upper denture, can cause when it lifts up or looses it suction, will appreciate being able to snap their teeth into place.  Having the confidence and knowing that their denture is secure, without the use of gooey gels and adhesives, is reason enough to want to have mini-implants.  These implants are placed in the office with the same type of anesthesia that is used for fillings.  The patient is able to leave the office, the same day as their surgery, with their dentures securely attached. 



                                                    Back to Top

____________________________________________________________________________
Angela Hilton-Foley, DMD
Designing Smiles
813.891.1212