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What to Expect During Dental Implant Treatment

Dental implant surgery is a process that is performed to replace tooth roots with metal, screw like posts and replaces missing or damaged teeth with artificial ones. They appear and function just like real ones. Implants offer a natural tooth replacement compared to dentures because they’re artificial teeth attached directly to your jawbone. For a successful surgery, you should be in good health apart from missing teeth and have a completely developed and healthy jawbone and gums to support the implants.

Dental Implant Procedure

As there are numerous surgical processes needed in dental implants, your chosen dentist or oral surgeon will perform a complete and thorough evaluation, including X-rays and teeth models to assure the dental implants will perfectly suit your natural teeth. However, the way the surgery is performed depends on the kind of implant and the condition of your jawbone.
If you’re missing one or two teeth and wouldn’t want to have a bridge or full or partial dentures, you should consider asking your dentist whether you’d be a reliable candidate for dental implants. On the other hand, if you have made your decision of getting a dental implant, it can be an intimidating and scary thought for some though it doesn’t have to be. Make sure to look up every aspect of dental implant before you get ready to get one.

What to Expect?

A dental implant is not a surgery where you go inside an operating room with missing teeth and come out with new shiny pearl-like whites. It needs outpatient care, attention and is performed in numerous stages and needs proper time to heal between processes. If the injured tooth is still in your mouth, the dentist will need to remove it. It will need anesthesia and is essentially its own process.

The procedure for placing a dental implant includes various steps:

  • Injured tooth removal
  • Jawbone preparation (grafting), when required
  • Dental implant positioning
  • Bone development and healing
  • Abutment placement
  • Artificial tooth placement

The whole process can take a few months from start to end. A lot of that time is committed to healing and waiting for the development of a new bone in your jaw. As per your situation, the particular process is performed or the materials employed, some steps can sometimes be mixed.

After your jawbone is healed (if you had a bone graft), your dentist will position the metal dental implants in your jaw. It’s normally screwed into the bone to offer the best possible strength. Next, you will undergo another healing period known as osseointegration, which can last a few months. Once you’re completely healed, the expert will attach the abutment to the implant and wait for the soft tissue to heal. Later, a mound of your teeth and jawbone will be made and finally, the placement of the artificial tooth i.e. the dental crown on top of the abutment will be done.

It is better to expect the process will carry for a few months because of the time required for your mouth to heal after every stage. So, make sure to prepare yourself accordingly.

Book Appointment to find out which treatment might be best for you.