Are You a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

If you are one to study up, then you have an idea of what restorative dentistry entails. When you have lost one or more of your teeth, you turn to dentists in Union, NJ, in restorative dentistry to replace your lost teeth. One of the increasingly popular oral appliances for replacing missing teeth in dentistry is a dental implant.

What Are Dental Implants?

 They are small metal posts usually erected in your jawbone to replace your lost teeth. Dental implants in Union, NJ, feature titanium material, which primarily replaces the root of your tooth. As such, dental implants do not work independently in replacing lost teeth. Instead, your dentist in 07083 will employ other oral appliances like dentures, dental bridges, or dental crowns to complete your implant placement procedure.

However appealing dental implants may be, they are not for everyone. For one, if you are not interested in a permanent solution for your tooth loss, you should not get tooth implants. Besides, the process involved is a surgical one, which is not exactly appealing to conservative patients. Other than that, if you have an unhealthy oral cavity, you will require other types of surgeries before you can get tooth implants. The surgeries are usually called bone grafting and gum grafting surgeries.

Understanding Dental Implant Procedure

The process of placing a tooth implant in your mouth calls for surgical measures. Your dentist will use sedatives and local anesthesia to numb your mouth and keep you relaxed throughout your procedure. Afterward, the following steps will commence:

1. Gum incision – entails cutting part of your gum tissue at the site of the lost tooth. This step is usually employed for patients who have been without their teeth for a while. Alternatively, if you were to get a dental implant right after losing your natural tooth, your gums would already be prepared enough from the removal of the natural tooth.
2. Jawbone drilling – entails making a small hole on your jawbone, right where the dental implant should be positioned. The size of the hole that your dentist will drill will equate to the size of the metal post that will be erected thereof.
3. Inserting the tooth implant – given that the tooth implant serves as the root of the replacement tooth, it has to be implanted deep into your jawbone. Once the tooth implant is placed, the gap of your lost tooth will still be visible. As such, temporary crowning is necessary, usually with a temporary dental crown, dentures, or dental bridge over the tooth implant. You will have to stay this way for up to 3 months as your mouth heals and integrates with the tooth implant before the next phase of the treatment.
4. Placing the artificial tooth – is the final step of the procedure, which entails crowning your tooth implant. In many cases, patients use dental crowns, especially where the replacement procedure concerns a single tooth. You can choose the type of material you desire for your tooth crown. Usually, the dentist will use a shade guide to select the appropriate color of a tooth crown that closest matches your natural teeth.

What are the Upside and Downside of Dental Implants?

Like with any other dental procedure, there are pros and cons to getting dental implants. While the pros may outweigh the cons, it is important to learn about all of them as you make your decision.

Upside of Implants

1. Permanent tooth replacement solution – you do not have to worry about frequently changing your tooth implants or the embarrassment of your tooth falling off.
2. Bio-compatibility – the titanium material sued to make dental implants is bio-compatible, which allows for integration with your natural bone tissue.
3. Sturdy material – next to natural teeth, dental implants are the sturdiest tooth replacement oral appliances in dentistry.
4. Natural-looking results – tooth implants closely mimic natural teeth regarding appearance and strength. Besides, with an implant, you have both a root and a crown, as is the case with natural teeth.

Downsides of Implants

1. They entail an invasive surgical procedure.
2. The timeline for completing your tooth implant treatment is long and can, in some cases, take up to 12 months.
3. You have to bear with some degree of pain and discomfort as you heal and recover from your implantation treatment.