What are dental implants?
Dental implants are basically like screws that are screwed into the bone, and on top of these screws a crown is placed, and this is to replace a missing tooth or multiple teeth.
What are the benefits of dental implants?
Dental implants are really the best option for the replacement of a single or multiple teeth. They don’t come in and out of the mouth like dentures do, they’re really easy to eat with, they don’t flex or pinch the gums like dentures would, and they really look and feel like your natural teeth.
What are the disadvantages to dental implants?
Some of the disadvantages include cost. It’s one of the more expensive procedures that you’ll receive in dentistry. It’s a surgery that’s required, so a lot of people will shy away from the fact that it’s surgery. And then, also, it’s the time in which it takes for you to eventually eat with the implant. It’ll typically take three or four months before the implant has fully healed, and then at that point you can eat with the implant.
How long should dental implants last?
With proper care, implants can last up to 25 years and sometimes longer, and the success rate in the US is about 95%.
How much do dental implants cost?
Be really careful when searching for specifically the cost for dental implants. They can be extremely deceiving, and it’s a little confusing as well. You have three parts to the dental implant, so a lot of the times advertisers will put in the cost for specifically the dental implant, but they’re leaving out the other two parts, and so those other two parts, of course, have a fee associated with them. Think of an implant like a package of three things. You have the implant, that’s basically the screw that’s screwed into the bone. On top of that is an abutment, kind of consider this or think of this like a post. And on top of the abutment or the post is the crown. So those are the three parts. Each have different costs, and so what you’ll find, typically, is a dental implant will cost anywhere between $1,000 and $3,000. The abutment and the crown kind of combined as a package deal will cost anywhere between $500 and $3,000, so you’ve quite a bit of a range there.
How are you gonna take care of your dental implants?
It’s really no different than taking care of your natural teeth. You’re going to floss every day, you’re going to brush twice a day or more, and maybe you’ll use a Waterpik to get to areas that you just can’t reach. The contour or the anatomy of the dental implant is a little bit different than your natural teeth, so you may find that food collects in these areas a little bit more frequently than in others.
How do you find a really good surgeon to place your dental implant?
You have a lot of options out there. Today, general dentists, periodontists, prosthodontists, oral surgeons are all placing implants.
How do you sift through all these options?
Reputation is huge here. I think you can find a lot of information online. If you want to kind of narrow it down, a board certified periodontist isn’t a bad place to start. And, obviously, asking friends and family who they’ve had success with isn’t a bad idea either.
What does the procedure consist of?
On day one, you’ll go in and see the surgeon to consult. It’s possible you still have a tooth that’s there that needs to be extracted prior to the placement of the implant. If that’s not the case, then he’ll place the implant on day one. On day two … This is about three or four months after the initial surgery, that’s the amount of time it requires to heal. At that point, the dentist will place the abutment, or the post that we spoke about earlier that kind of get screwed into the screw, and then that impression is sent to the lab. The lab then sends back the crown, so on day three you’ll come in and either have the crown cemented in or screwed in, and that would be it.
