Implants

What are dental implants?

For missing teeth, dental implants are restorative devices embedded into your jawbone to anchor new crowns. Dental implants look like screws and are made of durable, biocompatible titanium. Like the natural roots of your teeth, they sit in your jawbone, anchor a tooth in place, and even prevent the loss of bone mass in your jaw.

At Lashen Dental Group, the team offers dental implants to replace one or more of your teeth and prevent you from having to wear removable and often uncomfortable dentures.

If you’ve lost all of your teeth in your upper or lower row, they also offer All-on-4® implants to save you the time and risk of replacing each individual tooth with a single implant. With the All-on-4 system, you only need four implants to anchor a whole row of dentures.

How long does it take to get dental implants?

Getting dental implants isn’t a quick, one-day procedure. It takes several visits to Lashen Dental Group and several visits to your referred oral surgeon to get a smile that lasts.

On the day of your surgery, your oral surgeon gives you a numbing agent and possibly a deeper sedative too. Once your mouth is numb, they create small incisions in your gums to access your jawbone.

After removing any remainder of your original tooth and its root, they screw the implant post into place. Then, they close the incisions and give you instructions to follow as you heal.

It can take 4-6 months to heal entirely after your initial implant surgery. Once you’ve healed, you return for another surgery. Your surgeon makes another incision in your gums to access the top of the implant. They attach an abutment piece, which later holds in your crown. But you’ll have to wait another two weeks for your gums to heal again.

Finally, the team takes digital scans of your mouth with the implant and abutment in place. This eliminates the need for traditional impressions with a molding gel. They use these scans to design a crown that fits perfectly over the abutment and looks nearly identical to your original tooth.

What are the benefits of choosing dental implants?

Often, patients are given the choice between dental implants and bridges, dentures, or partials. Implants have a number of benefits over these other options:

• Stability
• Realistic appearance
• Natural feel
• No dietary restrictions
• No reliance on other teeth for support
• Prevention of jawbone loss

Although dental implants have many benefits, they aren’t the best option for every patient or situation. You should sit down for a detailed consultation with a member of the team at Lashen Dental Group if you’re interested in implants.

Schedule your consultation on dental implants at Lashen Dental Group by calling the office directly or using the convenient online booking tool today.