Dental Implants

What Is a Dental Implant

Before and after pictures

Most people, and that includes many dentists as well as patients, do not know a heck of a lot about dental implants. In it's most simplistic form, a dental implant is a small Titanium screw that is placed into the jaw bone. It is allowed to heal there for a few months and then your dentist can build a tooth or set of teeth to replace the teeth that you have lost.

In it's most complex form, a dental implant is placed by a dentist to anchor a tooth or a set of teeth in a very specific and technological manner. The exact position of the implant is critical to the success of the entire procedure and the restoration that is attached to the implant is a challenge for the dentist in of itself. But, even more importantly is the understanding of Prosthodontic principles. So what you need to do if you are contemplating dental implants is to work with either one person who is well versed in the surgical aspect and the Prosthodontic principles or a team that can put together these elements successfully.

If you are contemplating implant procedures, read the articles on this site very carefully and make sure that you know what to expect from the procedure. If you can't find answers to your questions or if you are interested in arranging to have your dental implant treatment performed by me, you can always email me or call my office 02-679 80-40

What Is a Dental Implant?

Single Tooth Restorations
Restorations for patients who are missing one tooth such as a central incisor

Many People have lost just one tooth... very often due to an accident and this is one of the most challanging situations for your dentist. To replace a single tooth, especially a front tooth, demands great skill and total understanding of all of the concepts that go into cosmetic dentistry. When this is done with dental implants, there is little room for error.

This section features many different facets of the restoration of a single tooth utilizing dental implants. There is great emphasis on the front teeth in this catagory because of the extreme expertise that is necessary to correctly do this job.

The pictures below show:

1. The pre- operative missing teeth.

2. The implant itself exposed and being seen through the gums.

Bone Grafting Explained
Bone Grafting: What is it and how does it work?

What does your dentist mean when he says a Bone Graft is necessary to place your dental implant?

The success of a dental implant, it's ability to support a dental restoration, is very much dependent upon how much bone is available in the site where the implant is placed. There are lots of things that affect the bone volume including things like periodontal disease, trauma and infections and it is not unusual to open up a site in the mouth for implant placement and find out that some of the critical supporting bone is missing. No problem.... We have great techniques available to us to replace missing bone. We can increase the height of bone and the width of bone. We can fill in anatomical voids in bone thereby creating new bone and we can fill in all sorts of defects that develop when teeth are lost. We can even use grafting techniques to prevent the loss of bone in circumstances where bone would normally be lost like the extraction of a tooth.

Replacing missing bone or adding to existing bone is very often essential to the success of a dental implant and the ensuing restoration. The techniques to do this are well documented and should be used when indicated by any dentist who places dental implants. Most of us will have a good idea when additional bone or bone repair will be necessary before actually starting the placement of a dental implant and the patients should be informed of this possibility. Sometimes, however, we do get fooled and run into areas where unexpected bone grafting is indicated. As long as the dentist is prepared to replace or add to the existing bone and the patient understands the bone grafting procedure, there should not be any problem with these techniques...