
There’s more to your smile than meets the eye – quite literally. The roots that are normally hidden under your gums play an important role in maintaining a healthy jaw and keeping your teeth in place. Since traditional dentures and bridges don’t replace the roots, they won’t perform all of the functions that natural teeth do. Dental implants are in a class of their own, as they’re the only tooth replacement option that provides new roots. You can learn more about implants and whether they’re right for you during a consultation with Dr. Hegazi.
Dental implants are usually described as artificial tooth roots. They are shaped like screws, and they are surgically inserted into your jawbone. Through a process called osseointegration, they bond with the bone and gain the stability to support one or more artificial teeth. Implants have been used since 1965 to replace teeth with prosthetics that feel, look, and function as naturally as possible, and today they have a success rate of 95%; in other words, they’re a highly reliable solution.
You’re likely a good candidate for dental implants as long as you’re missing at least one tooth, have an overall healthy mouth, and have a sufficient amount of bone in your jaw. Once any necessary preparations have been made, we can offer the following types of implant-retained restorations depending on the situation.
When there’s a lone gap in your smile, it can be filled with a single implant that has been topped with a dental crown after fully joining with the jawbone. Doing so will mean we won’t have to remove enamel from remaining healthy teeth to prepare for a dental bridge.
Even if your remaining teeth aren’t healthy enough to support a bridge, you can still have it supported by a pair of dental implants. Implant-retained bridges can be used to replace three or more teeth all at once. You can also get implant-retained partials that fill in multiple gaps in different places throughout the mouth.
When replacing an entire arch of teeth, we’ll aim for a conservative number of implants – usually about four to six – to hold your dentures in place. Implant dentures are permanently fixed in place, meaning they stay in place and can be treated as real teeth whenever you brush and floss.
The dental implant process has two important phases: placement and restoration. Other practices may refer you to a separate oral surgeon for the placement, which can be a very stressful ordeal. Thanks to Dr. Hegazi’s experience and training, you can instead have the entire process handled right here under one roof. Not only does this make traveling to your appointment easier, but you can work with the same team the whole time.
To determine the price of dental implants, we need to consider the number of teeth that have to be replaced and what kind of preparations are needed before we can move forward with the surgery. When comparing the cost to other forms of tooth replacement, remember that implants have been known to last lifetimes without having to be redone; that makes them a better investment than bridges and dentures that have lifespans of around 7 to 10 years.
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