What's Actually Involved in the Dental Implant Process

There are several reasons you can lose teeth over time, including dental periodontitis (gum disease), dental caries (cavities), and injuries that affect dental health. Unfortunately, lost teeth can affect your ability to speak and eat. Less than half of American adults have their full set of teeth, and one in five seniors over 65 are missing all their teeth.

Dental implants are a popular choice for replacing missing teeth. And with a success rate of over 97%, it’s the gold standard for providing stable and natural-looking alternatives to dental bridges or dentures. If you want to learn the advantages of dental implants, keep reading to learn more.

If you live in Mamaroneck, New York, or Stamford, Connecticut, and need to replace missing teeth, Dr. Gennadiy Kravets and our team at All Bright Dental can help you find the treatment that fits your needs.

What are dental implants?

This method of long-term tooth replacement works by fusing to your jaw to mimic the function of your natural teeth. Dental implants have three parts:

• Post: The post is attached to your upper or lower jaw through a process called osseointegration to keep your new tooth in place.
• Abutment: The abutment is placed on top of the post once osseointegration is complete.
• Crown: The dental crown is attached to the abutment. It is often made of porcelain and looks like your other teeth.

Dental implants can be used to replace one or more teeth and are designed to last a lifetime with proper care.

What are the advantages of getting dental implants?

Traditional methods of tooth replacement simply aren’t as good as implants. Dentures are affixed with adhesives that can loosen, meaning they can fall out, and they limit what you can eat. 

Dental bridges require shaving healthy teeth to allow the bridge to fit. And neither option is going to last as long as implants, likely only serving you for around 7-15 years before needing to be replaced.  

Implants offer a solution that fuses with your jaw, acts like your natural teeth, preserves jawbone tissue, and requires far less maintenance than other methods of replacing teeth.

What can I expect from the procedure?

Here’s a look at the procedure:

Preliminary work

Before the process starts, imaging is used to capture the necessary information. If your jaw doesn’t have enough density to support an implant but is healthy, bone grafting will be required. 

Implant placement and osseointegration

Next, an incision is made into the gum to place the implant, which is usually made of titanium. Once the implant is in place, the post fuses with the jaw through osseointegration, a process that takes several months before we can move to the next step.

Placing the abutment and crown

Once the post is fused, the abutment is attached. This step sometimes involves an incision. If an incision is needed, your gums will need to heal for a couple of weeks before the final step.

Finally, after more impressions have been made of your mouth, the crown can is placed on top of the abutment.

Getting an implant takes longer than the other methods and costs more, but the results will give you a restoration you can use the same way as your natural teeth and with far less upkeep than dentures or bridges. If you’re ready to see what dental implants can do for your dental health, make an appointment with Dr. Kravets and All Bright Dental today to get started.