Why might I be interested in Immediate Dental Implants?
Immediate dental implants are the perfect solution to the dental problems patients have been struggling with forever such as... rocking partials, ill-fitting dentures, that one missing tooth.
Do you struggle with your metal partial denture? Does it rock and hurt? Does the chrome shine and sparkle when you smile? Does it break and require repair on the day of your important social event? Do you chew your food better without it?
If any of these where answered with a yes... then immediate implants would work for you. You could have secure, natural looking teeth.
Are you struggling with the idea of replacing one tooth with fixed bridgework due to:
A—the high cost of the bridge (typically over $2200)?
B—the idea that the two healthy teeth on either side of the space have to be “ground down”
stripping away all of the healthy enamel, first?
C—the idea that those same two teeth may require expensive root canals before the bridge is made?
Then replace your missing tooth with a 'single tooth' implant restoration and your concerns disappear!
Safe, Fast, Comfortable and Affordable—Immediate Dental Implants
Do you struggle with a full upper denture?
Are you tired of using those “tasty” creams to keep your full denture in place?
Do you miss enjoying the texture of foods on the roof of your mouth?
Still gagging on all that plastic?
Do you find you can’t eat that steak and other foods like you used to?
Replace your full upper denture with an Immediate Implant supported, palette free, “U” shaped
denture and your problems disappear!
Does your lower denture “pop out” anytime it wants?
Does it hurt when you chew; no matter how many times you have it adjusted? Are you not eating the foods you used to enjoy before having a lower denture? Immediate Implants can fix these issues too, giving you a secure, comfortable lower denture.
Immediate Dental Implants afford denture patients confidence when they chew, talk and laugh.
What are the benefits of Dental Implants?
In the dental profession, replacing missing teeth with implants is becoming the "Standard of Care". What this means is no other tooth replacement method serves the patient's oral health, chewing function or general well being as well as implants.
Implants do not decay, are never sensitive to hot, cold or sweets and never develop toothaches like natural teeth.
Eat what you want-- with dental implants patients are able to eat all foods and chew properly. People who only wear dentures must change to a softer, more restrictive diet. Fresh vegetables, fresh fruit can be a challenge for a denture wearer, diet has been and will continue to be a major part of our striving to be as healthy as we can be. Being able to eat a healthy variety of solid foods is never a problem with dental implants.
How do dental implants work?
The answer to this question can get very technical but the majority of cases that we treat are simple single tooth implant restorations.
Let's start there...
Immediate implants are made of extremely hard titanium alloy. After the damaged tooth is removed and bone heals, the 'body' of the implant is placed in the jaw bone where the root of the natural tooth was located. The 'abutment' end of the implant rises above the gingival (gum) tissue. At the appropriate time a crown (cap) is cemented on the abutment.
Implants also may replace multiple adjacent teeth. This restoration is known as a bridge. This is referred to as a "fixed" prosthesis, where two or more implants are placed and two or more connected teeth are cemented into place.
Patients wearing metal partial dentures also appreciate dental implants. Many times the heavy metal bars and sharp, unsightly metal clasps of their partial denture can be eliminated by placing one or more implants to support the partial.
Patients who wear full dentures may also have strategically placed implants enabling the denture to lock on to the implants. Even though the dentures are secure on the implants, this is still a "removable" prosthesis. The person wearing this type of "snap on" denture is able to remove it for regular daily cleaning. This procedure literally changes the life of patients who struggle with loose dentures when laughing, talking and eating.
What is the difference between immediate dental implants and the older multi-stage implants?
For more than 20 years, the majority of dental implants have been placed utilizing the "team approach". A specialist would place the "body" of the implant in the jaw bone and months later a second surgery would connect the second part of the implant (or abutment) to the body. Then another dentist would fit and place a crown (cap) on the abutment.
This approach is fine but obviously takes multiple surgeries and many months to a year to complete one tooth. Fees of $3000 to $5000 per tooth are common place! Today, with newer one piece immediate implants, the cost factor has been cut in half! And, the time required to replace one tooth is a fraction of what it used to be!
In fact in our office, one doctor is responsible for both implant and crown placement. This often enables us to perform the entire procedure in one day! We routinely place anterior teeth in less than 2 hours. Sometimes it's a temporary crown, other times it's a final crown, but either way, you walk out with something to smile about in one short comfortable apointment.
Is everyone a candidate for immediate implants?
More than 20 years experience has shown us that approximately 90% of patients are candidates for implant dentistry and about 75% are candidates for immediate implants. In other words, you may not be a candidate for a fast, Immediate Implant procedure, but may still be a candidate for a multi-stage implant that would take a few months to heal and complete. Or you may need bone rebuilding first, then have an implant placed. This will add 2 to 8 months to the treatment. The most important element for implant success is having adequate dense bone at the implant site The more dense bone available, the larger the implant we can place. The larger the implant, the faster we can place your finished Crown, Bridge or Denture on that Implant. It's all about the bone folks !... :)
