Best In-Depth Guide to Dental Implants

I hope to compile the answers of some of the dental professionals that have had years of experience in the dental implant industry. Thank you for reading.

How Long Do Dental Implants Take?

What's the surgery time for Dental Implants and How many appointment's are involved?

After my research on the appointment and surgery times I've reached the conclusion that it definitely depends on the implant procedure that you are interested in. However, I was surprised to find out that for many of these procedures, there is a very short waiting period, a very short surgery time, and a fair short recovery time.

Here's a list of some very common dental implant procedures:

Single Tooth Implants - For single tooth replacement. The insertion of a single titanium dental implants followed by the attachment of a single crown.

Fixed-Bridge on Implants - For two or more teeth missing. Involves the insertion of two dental implant spread across two, three, or four teeth. This is followed by the attachment of a fixed bridge spanning two, three, or four teeth.

Over-denture - Almost like the All-on-Four™ implant option but uses two implants instead of four and can still be removed with the assistance of a dental professional. For people who have lost all or the majority of their teeth.

All-on-Four™ Dental Implant Procedure - This is the most drastic dental implant procedure. Involves the placement of four titanium dental implants either on the top of bottom of the jaw bone and are followed by the construction and attachment of a fixed denture that essential acts like a new set of natural teeth.

The Specifics:

Most dental implant procedures are done in two phases. The first, after an initial consultation, is the insertion of the titanium dental implant into the patients' jaw bone. For some treatments, this can involve as many as four dental implants (screw-like titanium embedded into the jaw bone). After there has been enough time for the jaw to accept and merge with the bio-compatible titanium implants (which usually takes 1-2 months), it's now time for the next step.

From that point on, an appointment is scheduled for the attachment of the crown or the prosthetic tooth/teeth. This actually only takes a couple hours or less. The newly fabricated denture or crown/bridge is then attached either by another titanium screw or by screwing the crown into the dental implant. Overall, you're easily in and out of the dental office within 2-3 hours. After that, you can start eating with your new implants right away.

Many have noted that they have had sensitivity just after having the prosthetic tooth inserted but most recover after a week or so.

In conclusion, It's seems that the first part of dental implant procedures take about 1-2 months so that your jaw bone has time to accept and fuse to the titanium implants. The appointment after that is to insert the crown/bridge or fixed denture and then most are good to go at that point.

Why Replace Missing Teeth?

The most important question to answer in this case is what are the negative effects of missing teeth on your overall oral health.

The Negative Effects of Missing Teeth

The effects of living life without solving the obvious issue of missing teeth can have a great negative impact. Without replacing missing teeth you are at a great risk of having some serious oral health problems and will turn your beautiful smile into something that's not quite as pretty. You can often end up looking much older than you actually are. Allow me to explain...

Teeth aren't meant to fall out. This is a fact. Yes, I know that children have their teeth fall out but I'm not referring to children but adults. When an adult has a tooth missing, the rest of your teeth and jaw suffer because there is something out of place. Now, with a large gap between teeth things tend to shift over time. Firstly, it affects the way your jaw closes, called the bite relationship. Secondly and more importantly, the remaining teeth slowly slide, drift, and shift into new positions that are not comfortable or functional. It's a disaster. On top of all that, as teeth begin to shift and move, it opens the opportunity for food to get wedged into the new spaces between teeth and increases your risk of getting gum disease and serious tooth decay. All this can just be the very beginning of problems with TMJ.

Bone Resorption and the Deterioration of the Jaw Bone

Another important problem to address is the deterioration of the jaw bone when there is no tooth in place to stimulate the bone. Many times when people are missing multiple teeth, their jaw is affected by what is called, "bone resorption." Essentially, bone resorption is the thinning and deterioration of bone in the jaw because there is no longer any teeth to stress part of the jaw bone. When the jaw bone isn't stressed with some sort of force, it starts to weaken and shrink. You lose the stress against your jaw bone when you lose a tooth or lose multiple teeth.

Over longer periods of time without replacing the missing teeth, your overall face structure changes and makes you look older than you really are. It often makes you look as if your face is shrunken in.

As you will soon discover, replacing missing teeth is one of the best ways to keep your whole mouth healthy and maintain your facial structure.

Tips for Better Oral Health

Always replace teeth as soon as they are lost. This will ensure that you won't have any of the problems that are listed above and will keep you happy and healthy for the years ahead.

How much do Dental Implants Cost?

Most Dental Implant practices do you a great favor and make the first consultation free. That is a given. When you're not sure about your exact needs, it's so important to be free from having to pay a consulting fee. There may be some really stingy dental practices out there that will charge a fee, but most won't.

Next, to accurately determine if you qualify, that is - if you have enough existing bone in your jaw, you are required to have a mouth examination and an x-ray. This can end up costing you somewhere between $100 to $200.

The rough costs of any single dental implants, not an All-on-Four™ treatment, can cost you about $1000 t $3000 just for one tooth. I know, it's pretty expensive. But in the event that you've lost a lot of bone or your sinus is elevated, those implants can cost upwards of $15000.

Luckily, there are many other treatment options for missing teeth but it stands to be true that dental implants are the only tooth replacements that guarantee continued the overall well-being of your dental health and prevents the majority of shifting and degrading of the jaw bone.

Financing

Due to the fact that dental implants are such an expensive cosmetic surgery, implant dental offices most often provide financing options or easier way to pay for your dental implants over time. Some work with insurance companies and others have their own credit program that functions pretty much like a credit card. In the end, you'll need to consult your dental office to see what financing options they provide but most of the time, there are great options available.

Crowns/Bridges

As mentioned before, there is a waiting period wherein you're jawbone accepts the titanium implant and the two fuse together. After this waiting time, you're able to have your crown or bridge added on top of the dental implant. Crowns and bridges will end up costing you an additional $500 to $3000 for every tooth.

Conclusion

If there's one thing that I've taken away from all the information provided here is that Implant Dentistry is not cheap. But I've seen a handful of people get them and the result is so close to the real thing that it makes sense that they would pay so much for it. Consider the fact that you get a new tooth that looks and functions just like the one you had before. That's a miracle and something that is priceless in some people's eyes.