Replace one or more missing teeth with dental implants – safe, secure and strong new teeth for the rest of your life.
A missing tooth can cause untold misery for many patients. While a hidden gap may be more noticeable to you than it is to others it will still result in numerous problems with your overall oral health. It can become difficult to clean your teeth as bacteria and small food particles are trapped and missed, increasing your potential for tooth decay, gum disease and bad breath.
Long-term, the effect on the health of your gums is significant. When a tooth is gone the gum lacks the stimulation it would normally get when you eat. This causes the gum to shrink overtime meaning that your remaining teeth are at a higher risk of also becoming loose. Your facial features can also start to sag thanks to the lack of support inside your mouth.
Possibly one of the worst things about having a missing tooth is its affect on your ability to eat the foods you’d like to. To overcome the problem you may only eat on one side of your mouth, causing excess wear on certain teeth. Other people will avoid certain food items altogether, often vastly limiting their diet.
If your missing tooth is highly visible then it’s likely to affect your confidence greatly, stopping you from smiling, talking or laughing. This can create restrictions on both a personal and professional level.
Please don’t suffer any-more with a missing tooth or teeth. Call us today to find out about dental implants, the very exciting and truly modern way to replace a missing tooth.
A dental implant – what is it?
A dental implant comprises a strong titanium screw placed in the jaw (to replicate the root of your tooth) holding a crown, bridge or denture securely in place. A dental implant is the truly modern way to replace a missing tooth or teeth.
One of the many exciting things about dental implants is their versatility. An implant can be used to replace one, several, even all of your teeth. While one screw can hold up to two crowns, two or more of them could support a bridge. In fact, just four to six implant screws could be used to completely replace all of your teeth – holding a full set of dentures securely in place.
Dental implants can be fitted anywhere in your mouth, top or bottom, providing you have healthy and strong gums and jawbone to support them.
The benefits of dental implants
- Replace any number of teeth in any part of your mouth.
- Avoid the need for dentures which can start to feel unconformable or loose over time. As dental implants are held in place with your natural bone they will not move or loosen. You can feel confident in their strength.
- While a dental bridge will require removal of enamel from adjacent teeth to hold it in place, a dental implant can be fitted with absolutely no effect on your existing healthy teeth.
- Our dental implants boast a success rate of over 95%.
- Dental implants are well-established and safe.
- With good care, they have the potential to last just as long as your natural teeth.
Fitting your dental implant
The implant screw is inserted into the jawbone in a 30 minute procedure carried out in the comfort of our surgery.
This will take place under a local anaesthetic, or we can provide sedation if required, so that you feel minimal discomfort.
Following your surgery, the screw will require between 3 and 6 months of healing time to allow the bone to fuse with it, holding it in place. We will fit a temporary crown or bridge while the healing process is taking place.
Once the screw has healed we will attached an abutment which will hold your brand new restoration in place.
You could be enjoying your brand new smile within just 6 months.
Are dental implant suitable for everyone?
While dental implants are a highly suitable option for many patients, regardless of their age or the state of their current teeth, there are not ideal for everyone.
A number of things will be considered prior to any surgery. The implications and any risks will be fully explained to you prior to the commencement of any work. We may take x-rays, scans and impressions to help in our checks of your mouth. Only when you (and we) are completely happy and confident will the procedure go ahead:
The health of your gums – it’s important there is sufficient bone density to hold your implants in place. Previous gum disease can mean that the jaw has shrunk. It also possible to restore density with grafting. If this is relevant to you, we will fully discuss this at your consultation.
Your general health – it’s important that you have a good standard of general health as this will directly affect your body’s ability to heal well following surgery.
Good oral health – it’s important to keep your teeth and gums healthy prior to, during and after any surgery. While your restoration will be made from ceramic, your gums are just as susceptible to decay and disease as your other natural teeth. The gum what is holding your implant in place so if it’s not healthy – the implant isn’t either!
Smokers and diabetics can be at higher risk. If you are a heavy smoker or you suffer from diabetes, then you may struggle to heal following surgery. As such, dental implants may not be suitable for you. We can discuss this further at your consultation.