All About Dental Implants!

One of the most common dental procedures nowadays is dental implant placement.

But, what is a dental implant?

A dental implant consists of two parts, one of which is the implant post and the other is the crown; the post is the part that resembles the root of the tooth and is placed in the bone for support; while the crown is the prosthetic part that’s fabricated to be placed on the post resembling the natural crown. Moreover, there’s a connection between the two parts known as the abutment, which has many shapes and sizes, and the dentist chooses the one that suits you.

What’s the material of the implant?

It’s most commonly made of titanium as it’s an inert material that doesn’t interact with living cells.

When do I need an implant?

A dental implant is considered an alternative for a lost tooth, whether it was lost because of caries, trauma, or even genetically absent.

The implant placement procedure isn’t a one-step procedure, but it has several steps:

1. Consultation: Even if you heard about it and want to have an implant, you can’t go to the dentist asking him to have one at the moment, as first, he should do some investigations and X-rays to check the state of your bone.
2. CT scan:  in many cases, a CT scan is made to see if there is enough bone available for implantation and also to check that sinuses and nerves are out of the way so as not to injure them during the procedure.
3. Bone Graft: If the patient doesn’t have enough bone, it’s essential to put in a bone graft which will be either the patient’s own bone taken from somewhere else as the chin or hip or artificial bone made of hydroxyapatite or calcium phosphate.

Now, let’s go to the actual procedure:

There’re two methods Dr. Pogodzinski or Dr. Blanco can choose from,

The traditional method:

1. The initial incision: which is a small cut in the gum to gain access to the tooth socket, where the natural tooth used to be.
2. The cutting and drilling: Now the tooth socket is visible, and the time has come to drill the hole that will contain the post later, and that drilling should be done in a certain size and shape suitable for the user’s post, then after placing the implant post, you should stitch the gum incision and allow it to heal.
3. A healing period: healing time is important in this method; that’s a period of 3-4 months after it the dentist makes a new incision to expose the implant and place a healing cap, and that’s to help with the healing of the surrounding gum tissue. After a couple of weeks, the dentist removes the healing cap.
4. Abutment and crown placement: Then the abutment and the crown are placed which will make the implant functional, helping in biting and other normal mouth functions.

One-stage process:

Sometimes, all these steps are made in one step, and Dr. Pogodzinksi or Dr. Blanco places all of the post, abutment, and crown at the same time, and that’s done with impatient individuals who are traveling abroad or won’t be able to stick to the long implant procedure steps.

Keep in mind that the traditional procedure has more predictable results as it allows the body to better tolerate the implant compared to the one-stage process that’s as a shock to the body.

Knowing all about dental implants, Does it seem like a procedure you want to have in the future? If so give us a call at 414-475-0588 and our team can schedule you right away.