Dental Implants

Dental Implants and Implantology

Implants are a great way to replace missing teeth - the closest you can get to having your original teeth back. Not only do they look exactly like the original tooth – they are cared for the same way (flossing, brushing).

Smiles: Replacing missing front teeth completes your smile with teeth that blend seamlessly with your natural teeth. Implant teeth look and feel just like your natural teeth.

Before and After Implant Replacement of Two Front Teeth:

Many people have missing back teeth that can be easily replaced with implants. Others are walking around with loose fitting removable teeth that they take out at night.

Any of these people can have their missing teeth replaced with natural feeling and great looking Implants.

Health – Reliable implants allow you to eat all the foods necessary for a healthy diet – with implants replacing your missing teeth you can experience the same life expectancy as anyone with a full set of teeth.

What are Implants?

Implants refer to the placing (planting) of a coated titanium (metal) sleeve inside of the bone. The bone then grows all around the treated metal and into the pores of the coating. This is termed 'integration'. In effect the implant sleeve and the bone bond together as one.

How do we fit a tooth on top?

Dental implant systems have three parts:

1. the bone implant sleeve
2. the post that fits into the sleeve
3. the porcelain crown that fits to the post

Precision Engineering allows all three components to fit together and provide you with the feeling that you never lost that tooth.

Diagram of a Typical Dental Implant

In the diagram below you can note the labels on the different parts of the implant system.

Implants are also a wonderful way to stabilize either a removable partial denture or a full denture.

For patients struggling with loose lower dentures that 'float', as few as two implants can be a life-changing experience (and for the better!).

Dental implants have a long track record of predictability and success – as far back as 1959 in Sweden. If you are interested in replacing your missing teeth with implants, we will be delighted to take a look – maybe you're a good candidate.

In our office we offer complete implant services including both surgical and restorative phases.

Types of Implant Sleeves:

Below you can see photographs of different types of implant sleeves – the piece that fits into and integrates with the bone.

Dental Implant Treatment Planning

Are you a Candidate? Have one of the doctors take a good look at the area where you would like a tooth placed. Visual inspection is an accurate screening technique – we know what works and we've done so many cases that we can give you a lot of information just by looking.

If it appears your implants will be successful we'll tell you and we can start to take records to confirm our 'clinical' impression. Records may involve simple dental x-rays or some additional information from CT Scans. Thorough Planning allows us to put the implant in the exact location time after time – that's what makes us so successful.

Of course we will also do a full examination of your surrounding teeth and periodontal health.

And, when we are convinced that everything looks good, we'll make some recommendations on the type of implant that should be placed – and the type of tooth/teeth that will best fit on top of that implant or implants.

If we need to create more support for areas of thin bone or tissue, we'll let you know how, when and why.

Immediate Placement Implants:

Sometimes, especially with front teeth, we can extract a damaged root and place the implant immediately – often with an esthetic temporary tooth attached to it. In this case you would walk out of the office with a new 'temporary' tooth already in place.

In other cases it is best to extract the tooth, add some bone enhancing materials and allow healing before placing the implant.

Each person is different – each situation somewhat unique. Personalized treatment planning is the key to successful implantology.

Night Time Protection for those Implants?

Often, the loss of teeth is associated with some type of oral habit – clenching, grinding are common. People who lose teeth often have the habit of 'discharging' the day's stress by night time habits.

A Nightguard protects the remaining teeth from the worst effects of night time habits.

A Nightguard protects the new implant tooth from those same destructive forces.

We recommend that people with implants protect them from night time forces by wearing a Nightguard Appliance of some type. And we're happy to talk about the alternatives.

The Dental Implant Procedure

Today's dental implants are virtually indistinguishable from other teeth. This appearance is aided in part by the structural and functional connection between the dental implant and the living bone. Implants are typically placed in a single sitting but require a period of osseointegration.

Osseointegration is the process by which direct anchorage of a dental implant root and the bone of the jaw occurs. Osseointegrated implants are the most commonly used and successful type of dental implant. An osseointegrated implant takes anywhere from three to six months to anchor and heal, at which point we can place the crown or any other type of artificial prosthesis.

Who isn't a candidate?

Smokers, insulin-dependent diabetics, excessive drinkers of alcohol, people who are unable to commit to daily home care of three month hygiene appointment and people who have healing problems … are not good candidates for implant placement.

If you or any of your friends in the Tewksbury, Andover, Chelmsford, Wilmington, Lowell or Billerica area would like to speak with us about any aspect of Dental Implants or Dental Implantology, please let us know. We do both the surgical and restorative aspects of Implantology and work with some of the top specialists in the Boston area.