Do you have a missing tooth? Instead of a traditional bridge, what if we could offer an option that looks and acts like a natural tooth? For tooth replacement that can last for years to come, we can offer implant dentistry. In today’s blog, your Santa Rosa, CA, oral and maxillofacial surgeons talk about placing dental implants and helping you enjoy a complete and beautiful smile once again.
Don’t Ignore a Missing Tooth
When you lose a tooth, contact our team right away. Otherwise, the complications of your missing tooth could lead to additional missing teeth, and even an older appearance. The body will respond to your lost tooth root by suspending the flow of key nutrients to the jawbone around the lost root. Without these doses of calcium and phosphorus, the jawbone will begin to erode, which leads to further tooth loss and eventually, a prematurely aged appearance. But with dental implants, we can prevent this from happening.
That said, if you have lost teeth and years have elapsed, and your jawbone has weakened, there is still hope! With options like All-On-Four, we can secure a full set of new teeth with dental implants that require less structure to stay in place, so you can also smile with confidence again.
Planning Tooth Replacement
To get started, we need to plan the procedure in detail. We will take digital x-rays and CBCT images of your smile, which provide a detailed and high-definition look at our jaw. We can then choose the best angles, positions, and depths to insert your dental implants. We can also see if you suffer from issues like periodontitis, as we need to work with your general dentist to manage this as part of your treatment to prevent implant failure.
Anesthesia and Sedation
We want to ensure your dental implant placement process is a comfortable one. We can administer a local anesthetic to the area where the placement is happening, which numbs it and helps keep you comfortable. We can also select from one of three dental sedation options to help you enter a deep state of calm and relaxation, with little to no memory of the procedure. This is especially helpful if you have special needs or dental anxiety. We want the process of replacing your missing teeth and obtaining a new smile to be a positive one!
Inserting Your New Tooth Root
Once we have planned the procedure in detail and you are properly sedated, we will move on to the next step. With digital surgical guides, we will guide the implants into your jaw. They will sit at angles that help ensure they can support new teeth and also stimulate the growth of jawbone structure, which helps ensure your smile and youthful facial structure remain intact. This also helps ensure your new teeth have the ability to last for decades to come, possibly a lifetime, as your jawbone won’t lose mass and density as it would normally following tooth loss. This is what makes dental implants last so long and function like natural tooth roots.
Attaching a Custom Crown
What about the portions people see when you smile, the parts that make it possible to enjoy your favorite foods again? For an individual dental implant, we could connect an abutment to the post and then attach a dental crown, one custom-made to look natural and absorb daily bite forces. If you have more severe tooth loss, then multiple posts could be placed to support prosthetics. We could even offer a full smile with All-On-Four or TreFoil, so you can leave our office with a set of new teeth connected to the posts. In fact, sometimes this takes only one visit!
If you have any questions about how our team will replace your missing teeth with one or more dental implants, or if you have missing teeth and want to finally address them with a durable and long-lasting prosthetic, then contact our team today to get started and learn more. We want to offer a full smile again; one you can’t wait to show off to the world!
Do You Have Questions About Tooth Replacement?
Our team wants to help restore your smile so you can feel confident in your appearance, which is why we offer implant dentistry for our team. When you have one or more missing teeth, then feel free to contact Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA by calling (707) 545-4625 to learn more about the process of planning and placing our lifelike and long-lasting dental implants.
