In restorative dentistry, dental implants represent a severe advancement, providing a viable solution for replacing missing teeth and sustaining oral functionality. In Redlands, dental implant means inserting artificial tooth roots made from titanium and surgically inserted into the jawbone, giving a profound foundation for teeth replacement that looks, feels, and functions like natural teeth. The dental implants specialist in Redlands, CA, will guide you through the detailed step-by-step processes of dental implant placement, starting from the primary consultation, planning steps to the surgical processes, long-term maintenance, and post-surgical care. Let’s get started!
Step-1: Assessment
Your dental professional will assess your mouth to check if you’re a leading candidate for a dental implant. Not every patient is the ideal one for dental implants. You require a specific degree of healthy bone material to place it. If you don’t have adequate bone material, your dentist in Redlands may recommend a tinier dental implant or bone grafting to strengthen the jawbone at the process site.
Do you have missing teeth? In that case, a conventional dental implant might not be your sole option! Along with implant repairs, there are other processes that your dental professional might suggest, including implant-supported dentures.
Step-2: Medical & Dental History Verification
Your dentist in Redlands will crosscheck your medical history, including any treatments you’re taking, past surgeries, and allergies. This detail helps evaluate your health and detect conditions that might problematize the dental implant procedure.
Step-3: Imaging Tests
Advanced imaging tests, such as CT scans or X-rays, play a significant role in dental implant planning. They provide in-depth images of your jawbone, displaying its density, volume, and location of vital structures, including sinuses and nerves. Such details are crucial for planning and accurate placement of dental implants.
Step-4: Bone Grafts
To bolster the amount of healthy bone at the dental implant site, your dental professional might suggest a bone graft. In that case, a graft is typically inserted when the tooth that needs to be restored is pulled to maintain the location for the subsequent implant. This is necessary after a tooth has been misplaced for a prolonged time and some bone loss has happened. Different types of bone graft materials are there that can be placed and which will be discussed with you before your process. Once the dental implant is done, the bone graft will require some time to cure before the implant is positioned.
Step-5: Dental Implant and Temporary Crown
Your dental professional in Redlands will now place the dental implant and probably a temporary crown. The process takes approximately an hour or so to finish for a single implant. OTC pain medications are usually sufficient to manage any ache you might face during the first few days after the process.
Step-6: Waiting & Healing
Your mouth requires time to heal before permanent crowns can be placed. For several patients, this stage lasts for months. However, it might take 6 months or longer for your jaw to heal the dental implant process adequately. Your dental professional will evaluate your progress to determine when to organize the final appointment.
Step-7: Abutment & Crown
Your dental professional removes the temporary crown during the last appointment, fixes an abutment to the dental implant, and inducts a permanent one. When this is done, the process is over. They may provide extra instructions on adequately caring for your new dental implant.
Conclusion
Once the dental implant surgery is over, adequate care is vital to ensure booming healing and integration of the implant with the jawbone, known as osseointegration. Hence, following the post-surgical care instructions and follow-up appointments are essential steps in obtaining a successful outcome for the surgery.
