Attractive, healthy teeth play an important role in our general health and well-being. You look and feel confident, free to laugh with friends and family- anytime and anywhere. There are many reasons why people lose their teeth, which can have a strong impact on your quality of life. Missing teeth can cause bone loss and the jawbone to shrink. This is because the bone is no longer stimulated when you chew food. This results in physical changes to your face: you jaw link shrinks, your face takes on a more sunken in appearance.
The implant exam and consultation will evaluate your mouth with a clinical exam and an x-ray exam in order to determine your potential for implants. This exam will also be where you can discuss what type of implant replacement will work best for you. The x-ray exam will be able to show how much bone is present in the locations where you will need implants placed.
Different long term research studies have shown that implants which have been placed in good bone can last for a patient's lifetime. However, some implants can fail if the quality of the bone wasn't good, if there was too much bite stress for too few implants or implants which weren't long enough for the demands of a given case.
There is the need for the implants to attach to the bone by a process which was originally described as osseointegration. The length of time for this waiting period varies with the quality of bone that is present where the implants were placed.
No. An effective local anesthetic is used during the surgery so that you do not have any discomfort during the placement of the implants. The mild discomfort you might experience after surgery can be controlled with medications.
You can go to work the next day, unless some particular surgical circumstance arises. Your implant dentist will discuss all postoperative instructions with you.
Patients have feeling which ranges from discomfort to slight pain. The variation depends on the number of implants placed, their location as well as a patient's tolerance for pain.
Post-surgical swelling may interfere with wearing a full or partial denture immediately after the surgery or until after the swelling has gone done. Each case varies and therefore, this should be discussed with your implant surgeon.
Yes! If you don't clean around the implants, they can get gum disease. Gum disease can lead to the failure of the implants if it is not treated before too much bone has been destroyed.
Each case varies regarding how many implants are needed for the demands of replacing the missing teeth. If the implant surgeon is limited regarding the length of implants that can be placed, more implants will be needed. The length if the implants is determined by how much bone you have present. A good consideration is to have enough implants built upon that if one implant fails, there are enough implants left which will prevent the failure of your whole implant reconstruction. "An implant failure should not mean a case failure".
The cleaning demands vary depending on the type of implant reconstruction that you had. You definitely need to clean daily around the implants. Brushing with a toothbrush, as as well as flossing are important. There may be the need for a prescription mouthrinse (chlorhexidine) which can further help you keep your implants healthy. Electric toothbrushes can also be helpful for cleaning around implants. Other cleaning aids may be recommended where the specific needs of your case require them.
Yes. It is important to not only have a professional cleaning done around the implants, but you also should have periodic implant check-ups with your implant surgeon regarding the health of the implants.