Dental implants are the newest in technological advances when it comes to teeth and gum care. While getting dental implants is more than just sticking some fake teeth in your mouth like you would a mouthguard. However, if you are not familiar with the dental world, you may not completely understand what a dental implant procedure is. The point of dental surgery is to replace missing or damaged teeth and roots with the artificial ones. These implants are a more comfortable alternative to the traditional full-mouth dentures.
The following are the things that one should discuss with their family dentistry in Richmond, VA.
Types of People Eligible for Dental Implant Surgery
The type of person for implant surgery is someone who has the following attributes:
- Missing one or more teeth
- Damaged tooth
- Good oral hygiene
- Readily bone support during the implant
- Overall decent physical health
In Midlothian, VA, the dentist always discusses implants, other treatment with their patients before they go for such a procedure.
What You Can Expect?
This is not the type of surgery where you can go into the operating room with missing teeth and come out with new white teeth. This type of surgery requires outpatient care and is performed in several stages.
However, if the damaged or injured tooth is still in your mouth, the dentist will need to remove it in order to replace it with many affordable dental implants.
- Next, you will need a bone graft, this means, the surgeon will remove a small amount of bone from elsewhere in your body and surgically embeds it into your jawbone. This is necessary if your jaw does not have sufficient bone to support the implants.
- After your jawbone takes time to heal, the dentist will place the metal dental implants in your jaw. This is actually screwed into the bone to provide the most possible strength. Then, you will need to go through another healing phase which is known as osseointegration that could take several months.
- After recovering fully, the surgeon will attach the abutment to the implant. Then after the soft tissue heals from that, the dentist will make a mold of your teeth and jawbone. At a later time, they will finally place the artificial on the top of the abutment.
The entire procedure can take up to many months for the entire mouth to heal and start working as usual.
- Dental Implant Procedure Stages and Timeline
Dental implant surgery happens in several stages and can last many months, but exactly how much?
- Bone Grafting and Teeth Removal
If you already had a bone graft, it would take around 4-12 months before your jaw is ready for the first implant.
- Implant Placement
You will be ready for getting the implant, which is a metal screw that goes into your bone and acts as an anchor for the whole prosthesis. This procedure can take 1-2 hours.
- Placing the Healing Collar
After the implants have fused with your jawbone, you are ready to get a healing collar. The dentists will place the healing collar on the head of the implant. The type of collar ensures his stay for up to 2 weeks.
- Placing the Abutment
Next is the abutment which is the part that screws into the implant and will support the crown. After the abutment is placed, your dentist will take another impression of the abutment for each replacement tooth.
- Placing the Permanent Crown
The last stage is placing the crown. These crowns are the tooth-looking part that can either be screwed into the abutment or cemented in place. However, the latter option typically looks far better and more natural as there is no screw hole when viewed from certain angles.