Dental Implants have become a popular alternative to dentures for those suffering from tooth loss. If you are interested in dental implants in Summerlin you might be wondering what you can expect during from the surgical procedure. Here are a few things you should be aware of as you prepare for dental implant surgery.
One thing you should realize is that the process from start to finish may take several months. In fact, it can take anywhere from three to nine months. In some cases the process can take even longer. The reason that it takes so long is that dental implants are done in stages. Following each stage, which is performed as an outpatient procedure, you will need to heal and wait for the growth of new bone.
The first stage is the removal of the damaged tooth. If you have already been wearing dentures or have been missing a tooth for some time then you might be able to skip this stage.
The next part of the procedure is the preparation of your jaw bone for the surgery. If you don’t have sufficient bone support because your jaw is too soft or insufficiently thick, this stage may involve bone grafting. Bone grafting is the removal of bone from another part of your body such as the hip and transplanting it to your jaw. It can take as long as nine months for the new bone to grow adequately to support the implant. Some grafting can be done at the same time as the implant surgery if it is minor enough.
During the actual surgery to place the Dental implants in Summerlin your oral surgeon will expose the bone below the tooth by opening your gums with a cut. The metal post, which acts as the root of a tooth, will be placed in the bone. This requires holes to be drilled for the post. At this point you will need to wait for bone to grow around the post and therefore you will still have a gap where the tooth is missing. Until you are ready for the next stage of the dental implant surgery you can use a temporary denture.
After the bone has grown sufficiently you may also need to have an abutment placed. This is a minor surgery which attaches to the dental implant post an abutment to which the actual artificial tooth will attach. Following the abutment additional healing is usually required. The last stage of the surgery for dental implants in Summerlin is the placement of the artificial teeth.
Summerlin Dentist Paul Vrenon, DDS provides full range of cosmetic dentistry services such as implant dentistry, teeth whitening, veneers, crowns & other. Get in touch with them.
