Learn How Implant Restoration Works

An implant restoration does more than just giving people back the teeth they have lost. Implant restorations are changing the way we view tooth loss as a whole and creating a situation where we are no longer afraid of losing our teeth due to age, disease, or accident. For decades, we treated tooth loss the same way, resulting in wires, dental cement, and adhesives that were used to bind new fake teeth in place.

Today with implant restoration, we have the technological advantage that allows us to replace more than the visible surface of the tooth, also known as the crown. Instead, we are replacing the lost root as well, in what is the most secure and stable way to replace lost teeth. The newness of this technology has led to people asking a lot of questions, especially as the technology grows in popularity.

Implant Restoration Process

Many of our patients want to know the process involved in an implant restoration, how long it takes to heal, and who is eligible for this kind of treatment. Theoretically, the last question is relatively easy to answer, and given that it is one of the most important, we will attempt to answer it here. Virtually anyone is eligible to get a dental implant if they have lost a tooth. There are, however, a few caveats. First among these is the health of the patient. Since implants are placed in the jawbone, patients must be healthy enough to undergo this type of surgery.

Second, a patient cannot have excessive habits like smoking or drinking, as these may interfere with the recovery time or lead to additional complications. Finally, there are a few conditions that may actually preclude the patient from getting implants or delay the process. These include people who are getting radiation treatment for cancer, patients who are undergoing treatment for any signs of periodontal disease but have not yet brought it under control, and patients with severe or untreated diabetes.

We take extra care during the process

A dental implant restoration is among the most successful of all dental prosthetics when it comes to restoring lost teeth. We are very careful to prepare patients for the implant restorations and to ensure that patients are healthy enough to receive them. As such, the implant restoration process begins in the dentist office with a comprehensive examination that includes X-rays and a CT scan. These dental imaging techniques allow us to determine if the jawbone is healthy and dense enough to sustain and support a dental implant.

For many of our patients, their bone is healthy enough, and we can proceed directly to an immediate implant placement, sometimes on the second visit. Other patients may have experienced a perfectly natural loss of bone density due to resorption after losing their teeth. For these patients, we will need to do an alveolar bone graft so that we have a sufficiently dense and strong block of jawbone into which we can place the implants. Recovery from an onlay bone graft typically takes around six months, after which we can proceed to a successful implant restoration surgery.