A Lasting Smile To Brighten Your Day (And Nights)
A smile can brighten up your day (and nights), however, it can have a different effect if you’re missing teeth. With damaged or missing teeth, you might lose the confidence to share your beaming smile with the rest of the world. This is where a San Diego dental implants procedure comes in.
San Diego dentists routinely see a large number of patients needing cosmetic dentistry. Dental implants provide a lasting solution to missing teeth by employing a metal screw that is placed into the jaw bone. If you are missing one or more teeth and wish to eat your favorite foods, increase your chewing ability and improve your appearance, speech and self-esteem, then may be an ideal candidate for a dental implant procedure.
The procedure itself is straightforward. A San Diego cosmetic dentist replaces the root of a missing tooth by fitting a dental implant made form surgical-grade titanium alloy to exacting specifications. The placement of a dental implant is typically completed in less then an hour, as an office procedure with only local anesthesia. Post-operative discomfort is normally none or less than that of a tooth extraction. Initially the implant is placed into the jawbone either immediately after the loss of a tooth, or after an extended period of time. If there is insufficient bone material, your San Diego cosmetic dentist can perform various bone enhancing procedures prior to the implant placement. An abutment, which acts as a base for a prosthetic tooth replacement such as a crown, is either inserted into the implant at the time of implant placement, or subsequently after the healing period is over.
Before dental implants, dentists would try to keep or replace teeth with treatments such as root canals, bridges, and fixed or removable dentures. Unfortunately, a significant number of root-canal-treated teeth fail, bridges require that healthy adjacent teeth be cut down, and removable dentures can often be unstable and require the use of sticky adhesives. Dental implants eliminates all of these problems, as well as many of the frustrations associated with natural teeth, including tooth decay.
It is usually possible to have a fixed transitional restoration inserted immediately after implant placement so that you are never without a tooth for aesthetic reasons. After a healing period of two to six months, a final abutment post is inserted into the implant. As the final restoration, a crown or removable denture is secured to the abutment.
Most people in reasonable health who wants to replace missing teeth can have dental implant. There must be enough bone in the area of the missing teeth to provide for the anchorage of the dental implants. Some people are missing all their teeth and most of those are excellent candidates for dental implants. But today, we use implants to replace small bridges, removable partial dentures and even missing single teeth. Bone grafts can be placed if a patient does not have enough bone to support a dental implant.
Some patients ask if the implant is ever rejected by the body. The implant is machined from surgical-grade titanium alloy (Ti-6A1-4V), which is a biocompatible material. However, there is a slight possibility that it will not integrate with bone. If this occurs, the implant can be replaced with another one. The second implant integrates in a vast majority of cases.
There is minimal to no discomfort associated with getting dental implants . While undergoing treatment, you will receive anesthesia. You may have mild post-surgical soreness for up to 72 hours. An over-the-counter pain reliever will alleviate the discomfort for most.For additional information about dental implants, visit http://eastlakedentistry.com/ to learn more.