Dental implants are the treatment of choice for missing teeth. They look, feel, and function just like natural teeth, and they prevent the bone loss that always follows losing a tooth. In addition, they can be used to replace just one tooth or to support a whole arch of teeth.
An Explanation of Dental Implants
As shown in the implant illustration to the right, a dental implant is a tooth root form that is surgically placed in the jaw. It replaces the root of the tooth, and in doing so, signals your body to bring in more bone-building minerals to encase the form. Once placed, your bone will fuse to the root form, a process called osseointegration. This fusing enables the implant to fully support a dental crown. The crown is then created to match the color and character of your other teeth. The result is that no one will be able to tell it’s not one of your own teeth.
Implant-Supported Dentures
If you have more than one missing tooth, you don’t necessarily need an implant to replace every one of them. In fact, just a few implants can support a complete denture arch. And implant overdentures, also called implant-supported dentures, have a lot of advantages over simple removable dentures. They secure the dentures, so chewing efficiency, speech, and eating enjoyment are restored. In addition, the dentures will not slip at embarrassing moments. And finally, because the implants act just like tooth roots, they signal the body that the jawbone is still necessary, preventing the inevitable bone loss that follows tooth loss.
This last advantage is very important over the long term. When we lose a tooth or teeth, the body interprets the lack of tooth roots as a go-ahead to dissolve that part of the jawbone so it can use those bone-building minerals elsewhere in the body. When we have lost all our teeth, the result is that over a period of just ten or twenty years, we can lose so much bone structure that it is impossible to support a denture, and we are faced with facial collapse.
Facial collapse is the characteristic shrunken appearance we associate with the old age, but it can make us look old before we truly are, as shown in the illustration to the left. It’s more than just an aesthetic condition, though, because once we loose enough bone structure, there is nothing left to support dentures, and it can become very difficult to chew solid foods, which can put us at risk for more serious health consequences.
What is Implant Treatment Like?
The two phases of this treatment include first, the surgical placement of the root forms. You may have a temporary tooth replacement, or, in the case of implant overdentures, you can wear a temporary denture while they heal and integrate into the jawbone. Then the final restoration will be placed. Whether you are receiving just one dental implant or implant-supported dentures, your treatment will provide you with years of comfortable function.
If you are ready to find out what implants could do for you, give us a call to schedule an appointment. Or, you may click here to fill out our request an appointment form online and we will call you. We’ll be happy to help you find a time for your visit that really works for you.
Your smile can be beautifully transformed with porcelain veneers in as few as two appointments. Many patients are surprised at how quickly they can receive a stunning smile makeover for teeth that for years had been discolored, chipped, or had spaces between them. Dr. Giang Dang has an artistic approach to giving you the smile you’ve always wanted.
After you have approved the wax model, Dr. Dang will make a beautiful provisional set of veneers for you to wear. Your natural teeth will then be prepared for veneers. This may require very lightly shaving the front of your teeth (less than 1 mm) to ensure that your veneers will fit properly and look completely natural. Wearing the provisional veneers will give you an exciting preview of how your final veneers will look when you smile and how they will feel when you speak and eat. They will look beautiful, so you should feel comfortable wearing them for as long as you need to in order to help you decide if your new smile complements your facial features and is truly an expression of you.
As the name implies, implant overdentures are dentures that fit over dental implants, which are root forms that mimic your tooth roots. These root forms, illustrated in the drawing to the right, are placed surgically in the jawbone. As they heal, the body brings more bone-building minerals to the site to encase the forms in new bone, making them very strong and stable. Two, four, six, or eight implants can resolve most of the problems associated with dentures.
People who are experiencing having dentures for the first time often find that they’re tough to get used to. To begin with, the lower denture arch rests on the ridge of jawbone covered by the gums and is held in place by gravity. The illustration to the left shows this. Because the lower denture moves around in the mouth, it can take some work to learn how to chew effectively. It is controlled by your tongue and cheeks. In addition, the gum tissue can become irritated and sore.
With as few as two implants, “snap-on” dentures can provide a stable foundation that will help alleviate the problems we’ve discussed above. The illustration to the left shows what snap-on dentures look like. People with bone loss can often benefit from bone grafting or the All-On-4 technique. And overdentures can also be secured with four to eight normal implants, as shown in the top illustration on this page.
Porcelain crowns and bridges were, until recently, made of feldspathic porcelain. The crowns were fused to a metal base to provide additional strength. Recent advances in bonding technology have made it possible for all-porcelain crowns to serve, even for back teeth that bear the pressure of chewing. But new ceramic materials are emerging as well, and some of them, like zirconia, have properties that make them ideal for crowns and bridges. The photos to the right show a dental patient’s smile before and after she received zirconia crowns.
Zirconia is a type of ceramic that is so strong, it has applications in aerospace, biomedical, and other high-tech industries. Nicknamed ceramic steel, zirconia can be milled very thin. It is also highly biocompatible, virtually eliminating the risk of allergic reactions. As you can see in the photo to the left, it can mimic the beautiful translucency of natural teeth.
Dr. Dang chooses to work with zirconia for crowns because it is also strong enough to support a bridge. With a bridge, the teeth on either side of a missing tooth are prepared for crowns, and a prosthetic tooth is suspended between them. It takes an enormous dedication to post-graduate training in cosmetic dentistry to be comfortable recommending zirconia crowns. In addition to learning the use of sophisticated bonding technology, color manipulation is an area for rigorous study. It takes an artist to see exactly how the color of the underlying tooth structure should influence the final product.