If you’re considering dental implants to replace lost natural teeth, you may already know that implants are now considered the standard of care for tooth replacement. While other restoration techniques exist, only implants replace tooth components above and below the gumline.
Dental implants replace the lost tooth’s root as well as the crown, restoring an important interaction that maintains healthy bone tissue in your jaws. Other restoration methods only replicate a tooth’s crown.
At Redmond Smiles Family & Implant Dentistry in Redmond and Bellevue, Washington, we’re specialists in dental implant surgery. Contact us when you’re ready to proceed with the best solution for missing natural teeth.
As dental implant technology advances, refinements change the details of the process, so the process we illustrate here may vary based on your needs, mouth conditions, and the best approach to achieve the results you desire.
The implant process for a single tooth consists of five stages to complete the implant, composed of three pieces. These stages are:
We examine your mouth, take scans and X-rays, and review your health to verify you qualify as an implant candidate. This is followed by the creation of a treatment plan.
Depending on the condition of your mouth, you may need to have the natural tooth extracted or any remaining pieces of it. Some patients may need bone grafts if there’s tissue loss in the area where the implant will be placed.
This is the stage at which the prosthetic root is placed. A titanium screw is called an artificial root, or implant.
We begin by making an incision in the gum tissue to access the jawbone for implant placement. Once this is achieved, the gums are stitched closed, and the first of the three pieces of your tooth restoration is in place.
Over the next 3-6 months, new bone tissue grows around the implant in a natural process called osseointegration. This stabilizes the implant to hold your new crown in place. As you bite and chew, the force transferred to the implant stimulates the natural regeneration of bone tissue in the jaw, preventing tooth loss-related bone loss.
A transitional piece between the implant and the crown, the abutment serves as an interface connecting the implant to the crown. It serves as a guide for the gum tissue and an aligner to set the crown in place between adjoining teeth.
With the abutment in place, an impression of the missing tooth site is made to serve as a base for the custom manufacture of the crown, made of a strong material that’s identical to your surrounding teeth.
Though the dental implant process can be lengthy, the end result gives you a natural-looking tooth that’s strong and easy to care for. Implants can also serve as attachment points for removable or permanent dentures, and hybrid applications can address virtually every tooth-replacement need.
Contact Redmond Smiles Family & Implant Dentistry by phone or online to start the dental implant process. Book your consultation today.
