What Are Dental Implants and What Do They Do?

Unlike dentures, dental implants are designed to look, feel, and function just like your natural teeth, giving you the confidence to eat and smile as you normally would. Dental implants also usually provide better long-term value than traditional teeth replacement options. Jamestowne South Dental’s Best Dental implants are widely considered to be the most effective and longest lasting teeth replacement solution for individuals who have lost them due to:

  • An accident involving blunt force trauma.
  • A serious case of tooth decay that warrants extraction of the affected teeth.
Dental Implants

How Does the Dental Implant Process Work?

Dental implants are essentially made from medical-grade titanium screws, designed to act as replacements to the roots of teeth. These screws are implanted or screwed directly into the patient’s jawbone, acting as a new foundation for the artificial tooth to be attached to.

For decades, titanium has been the primary metal of choice when it comes to dental implants because of its ability to bond with bone as time passes in a process called Osseointegration. Another material that has gained popularity in recent years is zirconia, which is not only biocompatible and conducive to Osseointegration but is also metal-free—an answer to patients with concerns about having metal screws in their jaw.

Dental Implant Recovery

The first 48 hours after your dental implant surgery are often the most important; it’s also when symptoms are most obvious. The first few hours after your surgery, your dentist will advise you to place firm but gentle pressure on the gauze packs with your teeth to keep them in place. The gauze packs should be replaced an hour after surgery, or when there is heavy and persistent bleeding. Gauze packs should then be replaced every half hour to an hour, depending on the bleeding.

The Osseointegration stage

Generally, the Osseointegration stage of the dental implant process timeline takes around 3 to 6 months. This allows the dental implant to fully bond with the jawbone. After this period, the implant is surgically uncovered and attached with another set of screws to abutments, which function as bridges to the crowns, also known as the prosthetic teeth, which look and feel like the real thing.

Is the Dental Implant Process Safe?

The surgery required to extract the tooth’s remnants (if any) and embed the implant is a routine procedure, but there is still a degree of risk that can be mitigated by a dentist’s skill and experience. Fortunately, dental medicine and technologies associated with it have come a long way to a point that procedures almost guarantee success. Sensitivity to titanium implants is also rare as the properties of titanium do not clash with the biological makeup of the jaw bone and gums.

Visit Our Bingham Farms Dental Office

Still, care must be taken when approaching the subject of dental implants. At Perfecting Your Smile – Jamestowne South Dental DDS  we make it a point to work closely with patients and advise them on how to proceed with the steps on getting implants and whether or not they’re really needed. After the implants have been embedded, we also ensure that patients are carrying out dentist’s orders when it comes to taking care of the implant and avoiding post-operative infection. Call us today at 248.433.6000 to schedule a consultation.