Dental implants are a great option to explore if you have missing teeth. These oral prosthetics serve as artificial teeth roots that are inserted into your jaw via a surgical procedure. Implants serve as bases for oral restorations like crowns, bridges, and dentures.
Implants fuse with bone tissues around them, making them virtually as secure as real teeth roots. The process is called osseointegration and it makes the implant part of the patient’s jaw. This makes it possible for bite forces to be transferred into the patient’s jaw when they chew on food, stimulating tissues in the jaw and keeping them healthy.
What to expect when replacing teeth with dental implants
Replacing missing teeth with implants starts with a complete dental exam. The dentist goes over the patient’s dental and medical history, looking for issues that might make it harder to recover from surgery like a weak immune system.
The dentist will also evaluate the thickness of the patient’s jaw to determine if it can secure an implant in place. If the patient lacks the bone thickness needed for implants, bone grafts might be recommended. Patients need to be healed from their grafts to get dental implants. That can take up to three months.
The dentist will set a date for the placement of the implant was the patient has been cleared. During the procedure, a shot of a local anesthetic might be administered to numb the area being worked on. The dentist might cut into gum tissues to expose the area the implant will be placed. A hole is drilled into the patient’s jawbone and the implant is pushed into it so that the bone tissues around it hold it in place just like a piece of wood holds a nail in place. The implant is then afforded up to six months to fuse with bone materials around it. The dentist can then attach an abutment and a restoration that replaces the patient’s missing tooth. The process of getting implants takes about six months from start to finish.
Life after getting implants
Patients do not feel pain while implants are being installed, but they will experience some pain and discomfort afterward. The dentist might prescribe medication to help deal with this. The discomfort should go away within one or two weeks. Patients are advised to stick to liquid and soft foods for the first couple of weeks after getting implants. They should avoid chewy foods until their dentist gives them the clear.
Once osseointegration is complete and the restoration has been attached to the implants, patients are free to go back to how they did things before getting implants. They should avoid hard foods though since those can damage real teeth or implants.
Replace your missing teeth with implants
Dental implants are the next best thing to having all of your real teeth. They restore the look and function of lost teeth without adding any annoying maintenance cleaning protocol to your daily routine. Call or visit our Boynton Beach clinic to learn more about implants.
Request an appointment here: https://boyntonbeachtownsquaredentistry.com/ or call Town Square Dentistry at (561) 782-9633 for an appointment in our Boynton Beach office.
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