Dental implants are the modern choice for tooth replacement and are often better than a partial or dentures. You’ll find that the caring, professional SDDA dentists suggest beautiful, natural-looking dental implants in most situations where one or more teeth is missing. At each San Diego Dentist Association member office, the team can give you back the flawless smile you deserve and restore speaking and eating.
Caring for a dental implant is much the same as caring for natural teeth. Your dentist may recommend getting one or more implants if you have a missing tooth or missing teeth that cause:
- Bite or chewing problems
- Your smile to be less than its best
- Problems with speaking clearly
- A bridge or denture that needs better support.
The Dental Implant Process
The first step in getting a dental implant is an exam. If you’re a good candidate for the procedure, the team will take an impression or mold of your existing teeth and gums plus digital x-rays and perhaps photos. When it’s time for the implant, local anesthesia numbs the implant area. Once placed, the length of time for healing depends on whether bone and tissue grafting was necessary to place the implant. Healing time could be 6 months or longer.
Fitting the titanium implant is just the first step. Once it’s healed, the tooth-like crown must be placed in a separate appointment, and you can’t chew on the implant until this crown is placed. While getting a dental implant at a San Diego dental office or any other dentist is a lengthy process, it’s worth it for the permanent results that function like a regular tooth for the rest of your life.
How Dental Implants Keep Improving
Dental implants have been in use for decades, and today’s titanium implants are smaller than ever, requiring less tissue damage to insert and reduced healing time in many situations. Once an emerging choice to replace missing teeth, they’re now everyday procedures for dentists around the world. And because implants are so much better and the implant process has improved so much, the success rate is approaching 100 percent.
Here are some obvious and not-so-obvious benefits of having one or more implants from the right San Diego dental office:
- You’ll look better.
- You’ll speak better.
- You’ll chew better.
- You won’t experience the discomfort or inconvenience of a removable denture.
- Your improved smile can give you back your self-confidence and help you feel better about yourself.
- Your surrounding teeth won’t spread as they would if you had missing teeth.
- Your surrounding teeth don’t have to be ground down for capping as they would for a bridge.
- Your worries about missing teeth are over because dental implants can last the rest of your life.
The Biological Dentistry Alternative To Root Canals
San Diego Dentist Association members are experienced and compassionate dental professionals who serve the Southern California area and practice conservative, gentle dentistry intended to restore your smile with the least radical or invasive procedure possible – so you can look and feel good.
Root canal therapy is intended to save badly damaged teeth, but root canals are invasive procedures that are sometimes difficult for our dentists to recommend. They can lead to infection, and the materials used are not always biologically compatible. Our dentists especially recommend removing old root canals that are giving you problems and instead getting a dental implant or other restoration. It simply isn’t worth leaving something inside your body that doesn’t really fit in.
Implants, however, are made of safe, biologically compatible titanium and other materials that don’t interact with your body. (You may also want to consider a dental bridge as an alternative to a root canal if you have stable and healthy teeth on each side of the missing tooth or teeth.)
If you have enough healthy bone in the area where the implant is needed or something to work with for bone grafting, you may be an excellent candidate for a dental implant. In about 95 percent of cases, your dentist can do a successful dental implant for you.
Understanding Mini Dental Implants
Implants were once much larger than now, in some cases as much as a three-quarter inch in size. These big dental implants required a lot of healthy bone if they are to be inserted stably, so many patients weren’t good candidates for them or experienced failures. Now, implants are smaller and fit better than in the past.
Among the many benefits of mini dental implants is that they’re less invasive, meaning the implant procedure is simpler. They are also less likely to be rejected by the body because they’re smaller, and that means much less chance of infection. Today’s mini dental implants are about half the size of the older ones – only about 10 to 15 mm. Getting an implant still requires surgery, but the process is quicker and carries fewer risks than in the past.
Most San Diego Dentist Association members prefer to use mini dental implants in all cases, if possible. Our dentists have found that these modern implants integrate with surrounding bone and tissue just as well as larger implants but are less intrusive and easier to place in the widest variety of patient types.
They also like that the recovery time for a mini implant is much shorter, and that helps you get back to your normal life quicker while making the procedure cost you less too. Old-fashioned dental implants can be very expensive, especially when extensive gum and bone work is necessary in advance. It may even be necessary to have a sinus lift or a nerve procedure to accommodate a large implant. These things are very invasive and costly, and they increase the risk of infection and complications.
Mini dental implants also fit into spaces where traditional implants could never fit. While dental professionals once questioned whether mini-implants were as durable as larger implants, recent studies have proven that they are efficient, effective, and durable. Mini implants aren’t just the future but are indeed the present preference of the dental industry.
Dental Implants May Be Right For You
If you have missing teeth and are looking for holistic, biocompatible treatment in San Diego or you simply want the best solution for a better smile and better function, dental implants may be right for you. Dental implants are safe, biocompatible, permanent, and smart. In most cases, implants are made of titanium that is inserted into your jaw – the same material that holds together broken bones and replaces bad hips. The crown portion is made of either porcelain or zirconia, also nonreactive with the body.
For missing teeth or to replace failed crowns, root canals, bridges, or dentures, dental implants may be for you. It is even possible to replace a full upper or lower arch with just four to six implants and a permanently mounted prosthetic. For every situation, there is a solution to help you look and feel better.
Learn more about dental implants and arrange your consultation by reaching out to a San Diego Dentist Association member. Each of these San Diego dental clinics offers a team of experienced professionals and a complete line of preventative, restorative, and cosmetic dental services. Dental implants may fit into your total oral and dental healthcare package – and put you on the road to a better smile than you ever thought possible.