Dental Implants
West LA » Dental Implants
When a tooth is missing due to an accident or deformity, a dental implant is usually the best way to replace the missing tooth and fill gaps in your smile. Dental implants are essentially a replacement tooth, imbedded into your jaw bone to look and function just as a natural tooth would. In actuality, getting a dental implant is actually like a whole new tooth! Dental implants are made of titanium, but being to fuse with your jawbone naturally, a process called Osseo-integration.
Though the idea of implanting a new tooth into your jawbone may seem invasive, the procedure is actually quite simple and painless. Your jaw bone contains no sensory nerves and since you are missing a tooth, you are also missing the tooth nerves, pulp, and root-the parts which sense pain. As a result, working on your jawbone feels no differently than working on your hair, or the ends of your fingernails.
If it is determined that a dental implant is right for you during your consultation, you will be asked to return for two more visits. On your first visit, the dental implant root is surgically implanted. You will be instructed to return home and give the root time to fuse to your bone. On your second visit, a crown or a bridge will be placed over the dental implant, giving the appearance of a natural tooth where the gap used to be.
There are two phases associated with dental implants. During the first phase, the dental implant root form is surgically placed into the bone, and is allowed to unify with the bone for about four to six months. The second phase, or the restorative phase, consists of placing a crown or bridge over the implant end, creating the look of a natural tooth. At CCIND, we do not drill into the dental implant to attach the crown. Instead, we treat the implant as one of your normal teeth, and bond the crown or bridge to the implant with the same process as they would be bonded to a natural tooth. This means no screws, holes, or metal visible on the implant.
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For more complex cases of missing teeth, that may require adjustments to the gums or jaw bone itself, we here at Time to Care will consult one of our in-house periodontists. These periodontists can help us to create a bony bed in order to give us a place to insert the dental implant, in the event that the bony bed is absent or ineligible for implantation. Having the ability to rely on our in-house periodontists allows us to transcend many common limitations of dental implants.
The staff here at CCIND will be happy to discuss dental implants with you. Please call for a consultation today.
