Are You Wanting 1 to 5 Dental Implants
Getting dental implants has all sorts of stories attached to it, but, in reality, it is a pretty simple process and not very painful. As with all other things that you have yet to experience, it’s the anticipation of the unknown that’s making you feel nervous.
At Eternal Smiles Dental Centre, we have seen the way dental implants have transformed the lives of our patients who need teeth-replacing. They are once again able to eat whatever they like. Patients who have been living with dentures are delighted to no longer have to live every day with a background level of anxiety about their teeth wobbling around just when they least expect it.
The dental implant process has a few stages to it.
Before we get into the importance of replacing teeth, let’s address the most common question first: what exactly is a dental implant anyway? A dental implant is a tiny but solid titanium alloy screw used while surgically replacing damaged or missing natural teeth. It is drilled into the jawbone so that the screw can firmly connect the artificial teeth or any other dental prosthesis to the jaw.
The consultation
We need to take a really good look at your mouth and your jawbone to make sure that we can fit dental implants. If your jawbone has degenerated it won’t be able to support the implants. There are ways to regenerate it though, using bone grafts and a technique called a sinus lift. If it’s your upper jawbone that’s causing the issue, we may be able to use extra-long implants to anchor through the jawbone and into the cheekbone above it.
If you need a bone graft, you will need to add in some extra time while the bone grafts integrates.
The procedure
People worry that this will be painful, but, with fewer nerves in the jawbone, a local anaesthetic is ample to numb the pain. Anxiety is another matter altogether. The procedure takes a while, so you may want oral or intravenous sedation to help you deeply relax.
Healing
You need to allow 2-6 months for the implants to fuse with your jawbone before you can expect to chew crunchy or chewy foods. This is the case even if you have crowns fitted immediately (same day teeth).
Afterwards
All you need to do to look after your implants is make sure you don’t get gum disease. Twice-daily brushing for 2 minutes, with daily flossing and regular trips to the hygienist is enough for this.
The Comfort
If you have all your teeth intact, then you probably don’t have any idea how it feels when a particularly hard piece of food comes in-between the exposed root of the missing molar and an existing one.
Let’s just say that it isn’t a very comfortable experience and once that keeps happening almost every time you try to eat, it’s not rare to see people giving up on meat and other previously loved food sources to alleviate themselves from the continuous pain and discomfort. In a way, losing your ability to properly chew food can potentially stop you from enjoying a very big part of your life.
A dental crown with the proper dental implant to support it can dramatically change the life of someone who is missing teeth. However, a skilled dentist like Eternal Smiles must carry out the procedure. A lot depends on the skill of the dentist/dentists involved, and it is a complex surgical procedure; so, it is best to not take any risks with this one. The good news is that dental implants have a success rate of over 95%.