Sinus Lift For Implant Prep: Your Questions

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Have you been told that you do not qualify for dental implants? This is something patients often hear when they have been missing teeth for an extended period of time. You see, the roots of your teeth stimulate your jawbone to remain full and healthy. When you lose your teeth, your jawbone may deteriorate. This can present problems because you need an adequate amount of bone tissue to support implants. Fortunately, depending on your particular needs, you may qualify for bone grafting and a sinus lift to assist you in becoming a candidate for implants.

Questions and Answers: Sinus Lifts

Question: My jawbone is not healthy enough for implants. Where do I begin?

Answer: We will need to provide bone grafting to restore the height of your jawbone – if there is inadequate tissue volume then you will simply not have a sufficient amount of bone tissue into which we may insert the dental implants.

Question: Do I also need a sinus lift? Or is the bone grafting all I need?

Answer: If you are missing teeth from your upper jaw, the bone may have become quite thin. To rejuvenate the fullness of your jawbone, we will suggest bone grafting. However, the floors of your sinuses that rest over your upper jawbone may rest too low (as a result of thinning bone tissue) to provide adequate room for the bone grafting. Fortunately, we can lift the sinuses to create the required space.

Question: Will I need a sinus lift and then bone grafting as two separate treatments? That seems very time consuming.

Answer: No. Fortunately, we may perform both treatments during the same surgery, so you will not need to worry about additional effort or time away from your usual daily life.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Your Questions About Nitrous Oxide

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Finding out that you have anesthesia options to help alleviate stress and anxiety during dental care is often a major relief for patients. However, you may be similar to many of our patients who prefer to feel fully informed both about their options and the details of each. We appreciate this desire and enjoy answering your questions. For instance, if you have been considering nitrous oxide for a tranquil dental visit, you may find yourself wondering about how it works and how it might affect your day. Fortunately, you will find this gentle yet effective option works for nearly everyone and offers many benefits.

Questions And Answers: Nitrous Oxide

Question: What is nitrous oxide?

Answer: Also referred to as “laughing gas” nitrous oxide is a type of sedative that can calm your nerves. The term laughing gas refers to its tendency to cause patients to feel giggly. In general, we suggest this anesthesia option for patients who would like additional numbing during treatments or a gentle method to ease nerves.

Question: Who qualifies for nitrous oxide?

Answer: Nitrous oxide is a gentle anesthesia option that works for most patients, including children. We will speak with you before your visit or procedure to ensure you are healthy enough to receive laughing gas.

Question: Does this type of anesthesia require an injection?

Answer: No. One of the benefits of this sedative is that it is appropriate for individuals with a fear of needles.

Question: Will I fall asleep? Do I need a ride home?

Answer: No, you will remain conscious during your treatment. To administer nitrous oxide, we will place a mask comfortably over your nose and mouth. As you breathe in, the medicine will quickly take effect. When we finish providing you with the sedative, it will wear off just as quickly. This means you will be able to drive yourself home or back to your daily plans.

Question: Does everyone receive the same dosage?

Answer: No. Another benefit of this anesthesia is that we can control the amount that you receive during your treatment, either increasing or decreasing the dose. This makes for comfortable, customized care.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Restoration Options For Dental Implants

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If you are a patient who has chosen implants to replace your missing teeth, you have likely already become familiar with the complexity of this restorative solution. From learning more about the procedure itself to what you can expect from recovery, you know that implants require a series of steps and a personalized treatment plan. As for the amount of teeth you are replacing and what type of approach you prefer, getting to know your restoration options for your dental implants is essential. Fortunately, by forming a solid understanding of your diverse array of solutions, making your final decision will come much easier. Learn more:

Restoration Options

  • Dental Crown: A dental crown is a single, hollow, artificial tooth. This prosthetic is something we often use to cover damaged or weak teeth. For dental implants, we will use a dental crown as a restoration for a single dental implant post. You may replace one tooth, multiple teeth, or all of your teeth individually with this option.
  • Partial Denture: Patients missing multiple teeth may rely on a partial denture, which will gain added stability with support from dental implant posts. Partials replace multiple teeth in most configurations, from teeth next to one another to those spread across your arch.
  • Full Denture: A full denture is one type of restoration that we may support with implant posts. We may refer to partial or full dentures that rely on implants with the term “implant-supported” or “implant-retained” to differentiate them from devices that rely on traditional, implant-free support. A full – or complete – denture replaces a full arch of teeth.
  • Dental Bridge: An implant-retained bridge includes a series of artificial teeth that are all connected to one another. This means you may use this dental implant restoration to replace one tooth or up to three teeth in a row. Traditionally supported bridges are fixed, resting over your natural teeth. In this case, the bridge will rely on implant posts for support.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Compelling Reasons To Replace Missing Teeth

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Have you suffered from tooth loss? If so, perhaps you feel that replacing your teeth would be nice because it will help you feel better about your appearance. You may not give the concern any more credit than that, assuming an open space in your smile is purely an esthetic concern. However, you may find yourself shifting your perspective once you become familiar with some extremely compelling reasons to replace those missing teeth of yours. Rest assured, we offer dental implants and oral surgery solutions to restore your smile according to your unique needs.

A Better Daily Quality of Life

Replacing your teeth with prosthetics like dental implants may greatly improve your daily quality of life because you rely on your teeth for important functions. For instance, without a full set of teeth, communicating verbally without difficulty can become an excruciating challenge. You will also find that your daily ability to chew the foods you enjoy may become impossible – you may need to completely change your diet just to accommodate your tooth loss.

Ease of Dental Hygiene

Filling the spaces in your smile with dental implants can improve your dental hygiene. First, recognize that implants require nearly identical care to that of your natural teeth. Fortunately, filling the spaces in your smile means you will be able to brush and floss without frustration. You will also be able to make your way comfortably through a meal without worrying about food becoming trapped where your teeth once resided.

Protected Smile Alignment

Ignore your tooth loss and you may find that your smile becomes misaligned. Choose a prosthetic like dental implants to act as placeholders in your smile and you can preserve the current organization of your smile’s teeth.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Protecting Your Smile From Tooth Loss

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Dealing with tooth loss is something that happens to many adults. Fortunately, you are not alone and you have many options within reach to complete your smile. For example, we offer dental implants to restore your teeth from roots to crown. While you should feel excited and confident about making choices to replace your teeth, you may also find yourself wondering what you can do to prevent future tooth loss. By becoming familiar with details regarding preventive care and what might cause you to lose your tooth, you’ll become a pro at keeping your smile in excellent health in no time.

Common Reasons for Tooth Loss

Rest assured, your teeth are strong and restorative dentistry offers many treatments to repair an unhealthy or damaged tooth. However, certain problems may progress too far (or damage may become too severe) for you to keep your tooth. In some cases, such as impacts from sports, an accident that severely breaks your tooth may be difficult to avoid. In other cases, your tooth may become extremely ill as the result of gum disease or an infection. These are progressive illnesses that are often completely avoidable with consistent preventive care.

How To Protect Your Smile

Prevention, prevention, prevention. Your best solution when it comes to preventing tooth loss is keeping problems from arising in the first place. If you’re worried about strong impacts, you may consider an athletic guard that can protect your teeth in high-risk situations. As for oral disease, such as tooth decay or periodontal problems, your answer is easy:

  • Brush your teeth twice daily
  • Floss once daily
  • Schedule six-month preventive visits for dental cleanings and checkups
  • If something goes wrong with your tooth, address it immediately rather than waiting (which may leave you requiring a tooth removal and then a tooth replacement solution like dental implants)

What To Do About Tooth Loss

Speak with us about the open space in your mouth right away. We understand that you may feel embarrassed but we urge you to understand our perspective: Helping you enjoy a comfortable, complete smile and improved confidence is what we do. We see your smile as a challenge with exceptional potential and look forward to offering solutions that guide you back toward optimal health and comfort.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Bone Grafting: Prepare Your Jaw for Implants

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Have you been excitedly reading up on dental implants and the advantages they may offer you? If you answer, “yes” to this question and also suffer from jawbone deterioration, you may feel a bit hesitant to schedule an appointment to discuss choosing implants to replace your missing teeth. Patients often worry a consultation will prove to be a waste of time or that they may find themselves embarrassed if implants do not offer an option. Fortunately, we offer bone grafting for patients in need of restored jaw health and volume.

What Causes Jawbone Deterioration?

Your jaw may lose some of its bone tissue as the result of tooth loss. You see, when you lose a tooth, you no longer have roots. Those roots once stimulated your jawbone, which sent a signal to your body to supply nutrients to keep the bone strong. Losing those roots immediately ends that stimulation, often resulting in a lack of nutrients and subsequent deterioration. Tooth  loss commonly occurs due to infection or gum disease.

Why Is This A Problem If I Want Implants?

You need a full, healthy jawbone if you want dental implants. Why? Your jawbone provides complete support to the titanium posts. If your jawbone is damaged, it may not offer sufficient support, which means your implant will not be able to fuse with an adequate amount of bone tissue to the extent necessary to replace your tooth.

Bone Grafting Can Help

Rest assured, we will offer bone grafting to improve your ability to receive dental implants. Bone grafting is a procedure that will allow us to rebuild your tissue (or promote the regeneration of tissue) so your jawbone can support implants. We will graft – or add/attach – additional bone tissue to your jawbone. A successful graft will improve the height and width of your jawbone, which means implants become an option for your tooth replacement.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Dental Implant Play-By-Play

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Dental implants provide patients with an exceptionally stable teeth replacement solution. If you have been looking for a way to replace one tooth or multiple teeth, you may find the long-term prosthetic you desire with implants if your goal is to replace your entire tooth (or teeth) from root to crown. For those set on implants, the desire to receive them comes with an interest in learning more about what one can expect from the entire process. For a quick breakdown of what the experience will entail, we encourage you to take a look at the following steps:

You Will Visit Us For A Consultation

To begin, we will need to examine your smile and speak with you about your preferences. The consultation will allow us to determine whether you are physically fit for the surgical implant placement procedure. It will also allow you to ask questions, potentially inquiring about alternative solutions before making a final decision.

We Will Take X-Rays

We will need to take X-rays of your oral cavity to provide us with the “blueprints” of your smile. You may require standard X-rays or more advanced 3D X-rays depending on your particular circumstances. For example, one patient may have a completely healthy jaw and require a single implant, while another may desire several implants to support a full denture and may suffer from minor jawbone deterioration. We will offer each patient a customized care plan.

You Will Undergo Placement and Recovery

We will place your implants. This is a surgical process that includes the creation of a minor incision in your gum tissue. We will then insert the dental implant post into your jaw tissue, replacing your missing roots. Over the course of approximately two to four months, you will recover as the post essentially becomes one with your jawbone.

We Will Restore Your Implants

To complete your tooth replacement, we will “restore” your dental implant. We use the term “restore” to mean we will “top” your implant with the restoration appropriate to your implant plan. This may include a crown, bridge, partial, or full denture.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Dental Implant Candidacy: Your FAQs

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Have you done enough research into the details of implants to determine that they sound like a wonderful solution for your tooth loss? If so, have you begun the process of speaking with us about treatment or are you hesitating? We often find that patients feel excited about the exceptional benefits of dental implants but worry they will not qualify as candidates. Rather than assuming particular concerns will disqualify you, we would like to reassure you that most patients are actually well suited to this prosthetic solution. For answers to questions we commonly receive regarding this topic, we have gathered the following Q&A session. For the additional details you seek regarding candidacy, consider the following and remember to schedule a consultation:

Frequently Asked Questions About Implant Candidacy

Question: I have struggled with periodontal disease but would like dental implants. Does my damaged jawbone mean I will need to choose a different prosthetic?

Answer: Fortunately, we offer a variety of treatments to improve the health of your smile if you desire implants. This may include oral surgery, such as bone grafting or a sinus lift, to prepare your oral cavity for implant placement.

Question: I’m hoping to restore my smile immediately. Can I achieve this with dental implants?

Answer: No, implants require a lengthier course of treatment than other dental prosthetics. If you feel you are ready for the recovery process, which includes the bonding of your implant to your jawbone over the course of approximately 6 weeks to 16 weeks, then you may make an excellent candidate.

Question: Can you replace my child’s tooth with a dental implant?

Answer: The answer depends on your child’s age. We can only offer an implant to your child if he or she is 18 or older. This is because children’s jawbones are continuing to develop as they age. However, we suggest you schedule a visit for your child immediately, so we may begin planning a solution for the missing tooth.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Anesthesia: Your Candidacy

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Visiting the dentist for any reason at all may cause you to feel a bit stressed or anxious. This is true both for patients who usually feel relaxed seeking dental care as well as for those patients who deal with severe dental anxiety. Fortunately, we offer anesthesia options to ensure you can feel at ease before you even schedule your appointment (in addition to feeling completely tranquil and relaxed while you visit us). While this may sound like a dream come true, you may wonder what it takes to qualify as a candidate. Rest assured, we strive to offer an exceptionally comfortable experience for all of our patients. Learn more with the following information:

Are You A Good Candidate?

To begin with, your candidacy relies heavily on the way you feel. Do you typically feel quite nervous or anxious when it comes to dental care? Are you hoping for a way to achieve a relaxing visit regardless of its purpose? Do you suffer from slight nerves? If so, you’re on your way toward qualifying for anesthesia. This relaxing solution is appropriate for most patients because we believe every patient deserves to enjoy truly tranquil visits with us.

How We Choose Your Sedation Solution

We will begin by speaking with you during a consultation. We would like to know more about your thoughts regarding your dental experience, so we can identify your concerns and offer anesthesia options tailored to your unique needs. Part of the consultation will include an evaluation of your health to ensure you are fit for sedation as well as for the required treatment.

Age and Anesthesia

When it comes to offering you a way to enjoy relaxed, comfortable treatment, there is no particular age range. We offer anesthesia options for pediatric patients and older. While nitrous oxide is often a first option for patients of all ages, we also offer oral sedation and IV sedation depending on your particular needs.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Dental Implants: Do They Require Complex Care?

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If you have been considering replacing your missing teeth with dental implants, you may find that you have an awful lot of questions regarding what to expect. While all of the benefits and details in the world may make you feel extremely confident about making a final decision, there’s one concern that may cause you some serious anxiety: Will implants cause you a daily dental hygiene hassle? The good news is that addressing tooth loss with implants will do no such thing. Daily care is actually quite simple and will help you maintain your prosthetics for years to come (if not for life). Ready to learn more about how to best care for implants? Consider the following.

Simple Steps to Optimal Implant Care

Fortunately, caring for your dental implants typically requires you to follow the same guidelines as you would for a natural smile free of prosthetics. Follow these steps:

  1. Schedule a dental cleaning and checkup once every six months, unless you are directed to schedule more frequent visits. Cleanings will remove plaque or debris you simply cannot address on your own. Checkups promote early detection of complications for immediate treatment that typically yield an excellent success rate.
  2. Brush your teeth twice a day with a soft-bristle toothbrush and non-abrasive toothpaste. Do not use a medium- or hard-bristle toothbrush or any product that may scratch your implants (or your tooth’s enamel). Even though the artificial material of your dental implant restorations will not develop cavities, your prosthetics are resting within your living tissue. You will need to brush away plaque and debris to prevent problems like periodontal disease and infection.
  3. Accustomed to brushing your teeth more often? If you prefer to also brush after meals, begin by rinsing your mouth. After you wait approximately 30 minutes, go ahead and brush your smile.
  4. Floss your teeth daily. You should be using a strand of floss that measures around 18 inches, so you can continue shifting to a fresh segment of floss as you work your way through your mouth. Flossing will allow you to remove additional plaque and particles that are left behind during your brushing sessions.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).