Did you know that Dental Implants are frequently the best treatment option for replacing missing teeth?

Dental Implants are fast becoming a popular alternative to dentures, bridgework, and other dental procedures used to replace severely damaged or missing teeth. Dental Implants have a huge advantage  because they preserve the bone and for a single tooth replacement it is not necessary to touch the remaining natural teeth like a bridge. Implants have a success rate of around 98% and with proper care will outlast conventional dentistry. An implant can not get decay like a conventional crown.

Implant Procedure:

The Dental Implant procedure requires a few steps:

First, the surgeon inserts a small, threaded titanium cylinder into the jawbone, the dental implant. This dental implant is the replacement of the natural root of a tooth and therefore acts as the artificial root for the future restoration. The surgery is usually performed under local anesthetic; sedation and general anesthetic are used with more comprehensive surgeries. There is no pain involved with this kind of surgery.

Some patients qualify for "same-day teeth", in which the implant is inserted in the jawbone, the gums prepared and the new tooth is attached all in one procedure.

Bone Grafting for Dental Implants:

Patients must have sufficient jawbone quality and quantity to support the dental implant. Bone grafting is used  to repair or enhance the jawbone so implant surgery can be performed.

In most cases, the surgeon needs only a small portion of bone, which is most commonly transplanted from another site in the upper or lower jawbone. The healing process can take anywhere from four to six months.

For patients needing larger sections of bone to repair and expand the jawbone, bone can be taken from the chin, the leg, or even the hip (for very large sections of bone grafting)

Once the bone has healed, the surgeon will continue with the placement of a dental implant procedure.

Many people who are missing a single tooth opt for a fixed bridge; but a bridge may require the cutting down of healthy, adjacent teeth that may or may not need to be restored. The additional long term cost of possibly having to replace the bridge once, twice or more over the course of a lifetime. Similarly, a removable partial denture may contribute to the loss of adjacent teeth. Studies show that within five to seven years there is a failure rate of up to 30% in teeth located next to a fixed bridge or removable partial denture.

Further, conventional dentures may contribute to the increased loss of bone.

If you are missing several teeth or all teeth of your mouth, you should enjoy the confidence and  benefits that come with dental implants because they become a part of you.

With an overall success rate of about 98% and over 40 years of clinical research to back them up, dental implants are the best treatment option for replacing missing teeth.