Dental Implants – Brock, TX

What are
Dental Implants?

If you saw a dental implant before it was placed in the jaw, you might think it looks like a screw. It is the foundation upon which a crown or another restoration is meant to rest. Since dental implants join directly with the jawbone after they have been surgically placed, they can fulfil all the functions that natural tooth roots normally do. This includes anchoring your new teeth in place as well as providing stimulation to the jaw so that it does not start to break down.

The 4-Step Dental Implant Process

• Step 1: First, you need to schedule a dental implant consultation with us so that we can perform an examination and determine what, if any, preliminary treatments are required before implant surgery. This is also the step where we determine how many dental implants you’ll need and the kind of restoration they’ll support.
• Step 2: The implants will be surgically placed at our office. Our goal is to save you the trouble of having to visit a separate specialist for the implant procedure.
• Step 3: It will take about 3 to 6 months for the implant to fuse with the jaw via osseointegration. Then an abutment can be attached to the dental implant post via a minor surgery.
• Step 4: An impression will be taken of your mouth after the abutments are in place. A final restoration will be created, and we’ll attach it to the implant posts during a final appointment.

Benefits of
Dental Implants

When you ask a dentist for the best modern tooth replacement option available, they will point you towards dental implants due to the following benefits:

• They help prevent bone loss and further tooth loss thanks to the stimulation they provide, which is something that traditional tooth replacements lack.
• They are so comfortable in the mouth that some patients occasionally forget which teeth have been replaced.
• Restorations anchored to dental implants will not slip or move at inopportune times. For this reason, dental implants are considered a good way to give traditional dentures an upgrade.
• A dental implant can last for 30 years or longer with simple maintenance.

Who Dental Implants Can Help

Dental implant placement can help virtually anyone who has lost one or more teeth. You can begin the surgery if you are in overall good health, are not currently suffering from gum disease, and have a jawbone that is strong enough to support and join with implant posts. If you do not meet these criteria, we can discuss certain preliminary procedures (such as bone grafts) that you can complete in order to be a viable candidate for implants. The procedure will be slightly different for everyone based on their needs.

Missing Single Tooth

When only one tooth is missing, the math for deciding how many dental implants are needed is very simple. We only need to place one post in the area where the tooth was lost and wait for the surrounding area to heal before placing a dental crown. This is often a good alternative to a dental bridge, which would force us to remove enamel from your remaining teeth.

Missing Multiple Teeth

Dental implants are highly versatile, so there are multiple ways to use them to replace any number of teeth. For several consecutive missing teeth, a bridge can be placed on a pair of dental implants. If there are gaps in different parts of your smile, a partial denture can be retained by a select number of implants. When you visit our office, we’ll go over your implant options in detail so that you know for sure which is best for your particular situation.

Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants

Dental implants are more expensive than other forms of tooth replacement at first, but this will be balanced out in the long run by the fact that the posts can last for decades at a time and thus rarely, if ever, need to be replaced. In short, getting a dental implant is something like a long-term investment in a brilliant, strong smile. We’ll go over the costs of implants with you at your initial consultation; there are several variables, such as the number of implants needed, that must be considered when forming an estimate.

A History of
Dental Implants

While implants have been present in one form or another throughout history, the kind we use today were first placed in 1965. They were the result of a 1952 experiment involving titanium placement in rabbits, during which the osseointegration process was discovered. Eventually, the potential of this process for placing titanium posts to act as artificial tooth roots was discovered. In the past few decades, our understanding of dental implants has advanced even further, making the treatment more reliable and successful than ever.