Implant Dentistry
Your smile is one of the first things people notice about you. A beautiful smile enhances your overall appearance and makes you feel good, too!
Equally important is your overall health. Strong healthy teeth are essential for good health. Missing or loose teeth affect everything from how you feel about yourself to your ability to chew your favorite foods. They affect your speech and your level of comfort in talking to others.
With the availability of dental implants, there is no longer a reason to suffer the effects of missing teeth. Tooth loss also results in bone loss and causes the appearance of premature aging.
When a tooth is missing, the bone that supported it begins to degenerate, having lost it's purpose. A dental implant is the best solution for qualifying candidates. As the graphic shows, the implant is placed into and integrates with the bone, creating a tooth "root". On this is placed an abutment, or post, providing the support needed to then place a crown - your beautiful new natural-looking tooth!
The implant will help preserve bone by providing the stimulation your real tooth root used to provide. Dental implants are available for one tooth or many and can even be placed as "anchors" to which a denture snaps on and off!
If you are a candidate for dental implants, the benefits could improve the quality of your life!
This patient was unhappy with a removable prosthesis that caused constant palatal inflammation and discomfort.
This shows implants placed in the upper arch and improved health in the palatal tissue. Below is a view of the final screw-retained implant-supported denture, ready for placement.
This patient had a single implant placed to replace a tooth that had a perforated root and required extraction. After the implant is integrated with the bone, the permanent crown is made, restoring a completely natural appearance.
Here is an example of a multiple-tooth implant placement.