Restore Your Smile With Strong, Natural-Looking Implants
Well I love doing implants. I think implants are an amazing new technology that we can use to replace missing teeth. That’s more the standard of care nowadays rather than bridges and it’s a very successful and simple way to help replace those missing teeth and preserving the rest of the teeth in your mouth.
So for each dental implant we do, we take a scan to make sure that the bone density is adequate for a successful implant surgery and restoration crown at the end. To help with the bone density that could be lacking, we might do some bone grafting either before extraction or after extraction or even at the time of implant surgery. Patient discomfort after implant surgery is very minimal compared to the extraction discomfort that they might feel.
I’ve had lots of patients say that they can go home the night of their implant surgery and have normal dinner and they weren’t able to do that with the extraction. We go over all the pros and cons of each procedure that could be done, options to replace those teeth, and ultimately decide on a patient per patient basis which option is best for them. In the past, bridges used to be the popular option to replace singular missing teeth.
To do bridges, we have to shave down the adjacent teeth to that missing tooth. We want to try to avoid shaving down any teeth whenever possible. So doing a single implant in the missing tooth area instead of a bridge will help preserve those adjacent teeth by just putting a singular tooth in that area.
And you’re also able to floss in between those teeth with the implant, which you’re not able to with the bridge. You have to use an alternative flossing technique. So with bridges, a lot of patients will get food trapped underneath those bridges, which can be difficult for them to clean out every single time they eat.
And honestly, it can be a little annoying for them as well. Single implants are great because you can floss in between them and they act very similar to your natural tooth. Teeth in a day are a great option for some patients.
It’s when a tooth would be extracted, implant placed, and potentially a crown placed at the same appointment, so you would be leaving with the tooth in your mouth. That’s great for aesthetic results for teeth in the front of your mouth.
