Category: Dental Implants

When most people lose a tooth, they start thinking about how it will affect their appearance. Unfortunately, most people imagine gap-toothed photos instead of life-altering bone loss. Believe it or not, if your teeth go missing and they aren’t replaced the right way, you might be left suffering with more negative consequences than you think.

Tooth Loss Can Affect More Than Your Teeth

In addition to helping you to chew your food, your teeth also help to stimulate your jawbone and keep your mouth healthy. Unfortunately, missing teeth can cause these problems:

• Missing Jaw Tissue: Your teeth are held in place by strong ligaments that are rooted in your jawbone. As you talk and chew, the impact stimulates these ligaments, which keeps your jawbone strong. Unfortunately, after a tooth is lost, your jaw won’t receive this stimulation, and the bone will actually start to shrink away. In fact, most people lose about 25% of jawbone width within the first year of missing a tooth.
• Altered Face Shape: Once your jawbone has started to melt away, it can start to affect the shape of your entire face. Over time, a smaller jawbone might make the lower part of your face look caved in, like someone who is elderly.

How Dental Implants Can Help

Fortunately, you don’t have to let a missing tooth destroy your physical appearance. Because dental implants are anchored directly to your jaw with a strong abutment, they stimulate your bone tissue just like your natural teeth.

However, keep in mind that dental implants need to be placed soon after you lose your teeth to avoid problems. If your jawbone has melted away, your dentist might have to place bone grafts near the area of the missing tooth to properly anchor your implant. Without this graft, your implant might not be as strong as surrounding teeth.

To avoid problems, meet with your dentist as soon as one of your teeth falls out. In addition to patching up your smile with a temporary bridge or false tooth, your dentist can start making plans for how your implant should be placed.

The Cosmetic Benefits of Dental Implants

Are you worried that your dental implant will stick out like a sore thumb? Believe it or not, dental implants look even more natural than porcelain veneers, since the surface is level with the rest of your natural teeth. Dental implants can even be dyed to match surrounding teeth, so that you won’t have to worry about color inconsistencies.

There have been many great advances in dentistry with new and modern practices. Some of these advances have even helped with our general life expectancy and quality of life. But when it comes to getting older, or some conditions in our medical history, we might often then lose some of our teeth. After a significant amount of time with the loss of teeth, there will be bone loss and with modern dentistry it can be reversed.

When we lose teeth for various reasons, the space where the tooth previously was, loses its stimulation and blood flow. In order to have a healthy jaw, it needs the constant stimulation of every day chewing. This creates stimulation to the muscles around the bone, and keeps the bone healthy as well. So when we lose our teeth, and don’t immediately have a graft or dental implant installed, that current structure might collapse due to atrophy. This type of bone loss was ignored in the past by traditional dentistry.

With the loss of teeth, the bone loss first starts with a decrease in width. This is a 25% decrease in width during the first year, and an inch decrease in height following multiple extractions. If a denture or partial is given, this can cause discomfort and pain because the thin gum tissue is laying over a narrow bone.

Nerves in the lower jaw that were previously protected by bone, end up becoming exposed and then sit on top of the ridge, right under the denture. This results in acute pain and/or temporary to permanent sensation loss or feeling. If you have bone loss in the upper jaw, it might cause pain and increase the chances of the upper denture moving during eating. Chewing with a denture that’s moving or is wrongly fitted does not cause stimulation, but instead reduces the blood supply and increases the chances or more bone loss.

Cosmetic Effects of Tooth/Bone Loss

The effects of bone loss are not only detrimental to your jaw, but it does cause your facial appearance to change. The loss of teeth can actually add a decade or more years to the face. Your facial height decreases, and causes several facial changes. With the loss of vertical bone, the bite relationship diminishes and as a result, the chin rotates forward giving a poorer appearance. It also causes the patient to look like they’re constantly frowning. Then the muscle that is lost, start to show in the upper lip and creates more long lines around the mouth, and a deepening of the groove next to the nose.

Health Effects

A recent study of denture wearers found that almost half showed a low chewing performance, which resulted in lower intakes of fruits and vegetables. Those patients also took significantly more medications compared to those with superior chewing ability, and almost 30% were taking medications for stomach or intestinal disorders. The study provides several reports that suggest that compromised dental function results in poor swallowing and chewing performance. This also results in illness favoring, debilitation, negative effects on overall health, and shortened life expectancy.

Benefits of Dental Implants

Now that modern dentists know about bone loss after tooth loss or removal, the main procedure to fix the gap where the tooth has been lost, is dental implants. When the dental implants are going to be surgically placed, sometimes a bone graft is need for those areas with bone loss or in the sinus cavity. After the bone grafting is successful, they install the post directly into the jaw bone. This stimulates bone growth and blood supply, and ultimately improves all of the disadvantages from bone loss.

So if you or anyone in your family have had tooth removal and/or loss, and are interested in dental implants, please contact us. We can address any of your needs and get you on your way back to a healthy, beautiful smile.

Are Dental Implants Right For You?

For many, dental implants offer a better alternative to traditional prosthetics for missing teeth. Dental implants:

• Can be matched and fitted to your existing, healthy teeth.
• Have a high track record of success.
• Offer cosmetic enhancement over other tooth replacement solutions.

We offer some basic background on dental implants, a great start for research if you are considering dental implants over other solutions, such as dentures, crowns, and bridges.

What is a Dental Implant?

A dental implant is a three-tiered approach to tooth replacement. There are three parts of a dental implant:

• Implant: The implant is a metal post, most often titanium, that is implanted into the jawbone…a replacement for your tooth root.
• Abutment: The part of the implant that connects to the steel post and holds the new crown in place.
• Crown: The crown is the actual tooth replacement, most often made of a ceramic material such as porcelain, that is custom-designed to match with your existing teeth.

What’s the Implant Process Like?

The dental implant process is as diverse as the patient. Certain situations may require bone grafting to make sure that your implants stay. Generally, it takes about six months to a year to make sure that your dental implants are fitted perfectly. Here is what the general timeline looks like:

• Phase 1: After a consultation and treatment design, we will fit the implants. The procedure usually takes only one clinic visit. After the implants are fitted, you will wear temporary dentures or bridges. After 3-6 months, your implants will bond to your jaw—the process of osseointegration.
• Phase 2:  we will fit the abutment, and you will continue to wear your “temporary teeth” for another 2-6 weeks.
• Phase 3: After the second phase, we will start fitting the actual “tooth” component of your implant. You will try out several different crowns to match your implant to your existing teeth.

Depending upon our approach and planning, you can fully enjoy your dental implants within six months, at the earliest.

What Might Not Make Me a Good Fit for Dental Implants?

Certain medical conditions and lifestyle habits might make a patient a poor candidate for dental implants. We will advise you if dental implants are not a good fit for you. Here are some of the medical conditions and lifestyle habits that might complicate a dental implant:

• Diabetes, smoking, and heavy drug use are conditions that may cause peri-implantitis, an inflammation of hard and soft tissues surrounding an implant.
• Bone loss, associated with osteoporosis and long-term steroid use, can impact your jawbones, decreasing the success of an implant.
• Poor oral hygiene, after the implant process, can cause failure of a dental implant.

If you have poor oral hygiene, we will provide you with coaching to help you take care of your implants.

Are Dental Implants Worth It?

Many people are great candidates for dental implants…and yes, they are worth it. Here are some of the benefits of dental implants over other treatments:

• Dental replacements will not require the grinding down and modification of other teeth associated with other treatments such as bridges.
• You probably will never have to worry about a dental implant failing, where crowns can slip off and bridges can create further dental decay.
• Dentures will need continuous refinement, as your jawbone will change shape without teeth to support the structure of your jaw

Dental implants can also be fitted to other treatments. At times we will use an implant to anchor a bridge, creating a more affordable treatment if a patient can afford only a few implants.

Contact us today to see if you are a good fit for dental implants, or have additional questions about the procedure and all that is involved. We would be happy to help you.

When receiving dental implants, there are a few things that need to be addressed beforehand in order to have a smooth and unproblematic outcome so that you can enjoy your brand new smile.

In the first stage of your journey to new teeth, there’s an examination which includes a 3D CT-scan and an impression that’s made of your mouth. This is to ensure the teeth to be made, will fit with precision, and to check if you have enough bone to support the implant.

Everything is reviewed by our periodontists to determine what needs to be done to give you optimal results with your implants which can differ depending on which teeth were lost and need replacing. Often times you need something called a Sinus Lift Bone Graft. This procedure is often performed for a few different reasons. If you’ve lost your upper posterior teeth due to periodontal disease, have a thin amount of bone in your upper jaw, or have your maxillary sinus (the area behind your nose and above your mouth) too close to your upper jaw for the implants to be placed. If this is the case then you will need a sinus graft for your dental implants.

The teeth included in the section that affects how your sinus functions, are the cuspids (canines), bicuspids (premolars), and remaining molars. When receiving a graft, the bone may come from your own hip or tibia (autogenous bone), a cadaver (allogeneic bone), or from cow bone (xenograft). We will use your CT-scan to study the anatomy of your jaw and sinus, and if needed will also get X-rays before your sinus lift. This will allow us to accurately measure the height and width of your existing bone, and to evaluate the health of your sinus.

Note: If you have seasonal allergies let us know, this may affect determination of your procedure because the sinus swells during these times and may not produce an accurate reading.

When receiving a sinus lift, we will cut the gum tissue where your back molars used to be, and raise it to expose the bone. A small oval incision is opened in your bone. The membrane lining the sinus is gently pushed up, away from your jaw. You will then receive granules of the bone-grafting material and have them packed into the space where the sinus was. It is only a few millimeters of bone that is added, but it will allow your dental implant and sinus to be comfortable and free of the chance for infection. After the bone is in place, your oval window is sewn up. You will need four to nine months of healing and growing time, but that  is determined by the amount of bone needed.

After this procedure is complete it is common to have swelling and bleeding from the mouth or nose. It is imperative for you to not to blow their nose or sneeze forcefully as much as possible. This keeps the bone-graft material from moving, or loosening the stitches.

Like we said it takes several months for the bony material heal. It will begin to harden and mesh with your jaw, and depending on the material that was used, your dental implants can be placed in four to nine months.

There are some dentists that are now using proteins called growth factors to help your new bone harden faster than traditional methods. This platelet-rich plasma contains growth factors, and is taken from your blood before surgery, and is then mixed with the bone graft that is placed within your sinus. There is also a human-recombinant bone morphogenetic protein available which is an engineered protein. This stimulates bone formation without grafting. It is also US FDA approved to be used during a sinus lift procedure.

After you’re all healed, you can begin the next step which is to receive your dental implants. While getting implants in the upper area of your mouth, you will need a wider post to create better stability and keep them secured inside of your graft. This will also stabilizes the rest of your implants in the front of your upper jaw. On rare occasions, your dental implants will not take because the graft material and your existing bone don’t develop a blood supply. If this happens, a sinus lift can be repeated with even better odds of success.

If you are interested learning more, or have additional questions about receiving dental implants, please reach out to us. Pinnacle Center Dental Implants and Periodontics is dedicated in providing the most up to date information for dental procedures, and we are dedicated to helping you with your new smile.

If you are like most people, missing a few teeth can put a serious cramp in your day-to-day activities. In addition to making it more difficult to chew food, you might find yourself trying to skip family photos or laugh with your mouth closed. Unfortunately, if you don’t feel comfortable wearing dentures or fussing with partial bridges, hiding might seem like your only option. However, dental implants are a superior remedy that can offer you these benefits:

1: Comfort

If you don’t like dealing with adhesives or worrying about your dentures popping loose during your next golf game, you might be a little concerned about getting fitted for dentures. Partial bridges can also be embarrassing, since friends and family members might be able to spot the mouthpiece wires when you talk or laugh.

Fortunately, dental implants are a comfortable alternative that you will love for years. Since dental implants are actually anchored into your jawbone, they function just like normal teeth. In addition to staying where they should, dental implants are comfortable and don’t require extra care. By continuing to brush and floss, you can keep your new teeth pristine.

2: Aesthetics

Are you worried about your smile transforming overnight? One of the best things about dental implants is that they are custom crafted for each patient, so they look just like your regular teeth. On the other hand, if you want to improve your smile, dental implants can be designed to meet your needs. Dr. Roll or Dr. Williams can alter the shape and color of each implant so that you gain the smile you have always wanted.

Also, since the implants are placed directly into your jawbone, you won’t have to worry about those tell-tell signs of dental work, like strange gum lines or mis-matched teeth. Dental implants look more natural for each patient, so that you can smile, eat, and laugh without worry.

3: Bone Loss Prevention

One of the most important reasons to choose dental implants over other alternatives is that they can prevent bone loss. As you chew and talk, your naturally rooted teeth stimulate your jawbone, keeping the entire area healthy. Unfortunately, if you choose dentures, the underlying bone won’t be as stimulated, which will cause your jawbone to melt away and resorb. However, dental implants stimulate your jawbone just like your natural teeth, protecting your face shape and keeping your surrounding dental structures healthy.

If dental implants sound like something that would work for you, contact us to schedule an appointment.

 

Whether it was during a consultation in our office or perhaps while you were doing your own research online, you have probably come across the term “dental implant” at some point. A dental implant is a great way, often the best way, to replace a missing tooth.

So how do you decide if a dental implant is the right path for you, or if a more traditional tooth replacement method such as dentures or bridges is the best way to go?

We have been asked this question many times, and have compiled a comprehensive breakdown of the benefits that implants offer over their conventional counterparts. We hope that this guide will help make the decision process easier for you.

Dental Implants vs. Dentures and Bridges: Things to Consider

• Longevity: Dental implants offer a long-term solution (often lasting a lifetime) to missing teeth, while dentures and bridges require replacement every 5 to 10 years. Not only does this mean less hassle, it also means that implants may be more affordable over time.
• Quality of Life:
  • Simply put, dental implants look, feel and function more like natural teeth than do dentures and bridges.
  • With a dental implant, our patients can hardly notice the difference when biting into hard objects. They also look more natural.
  • In addition to that, dental implants are fixed – they are not going to fall out while you are talking or smiling, and you don’t have to put them away each night when you go to sleep. They remain in your mouth, anchored to your jawbone at all times.
• Bone Stability and Health: Just like muscles, bones also need a “workout” in order to maintain their mass and health. So when a tooth is missing from the jawline, the bone underneath the old tooth site becomes atrophied and shrinks. Dentures and bridges do nothing to help this deterioration. However, dental implants actually screw into the bone and integrate with it, actually encouraging new bone growth.
• Overall Health: Because implants allow for a normal range of food choices in the diet (a benefit not afforded by dentures), they encourage you to continue your healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life!

Do you still have questions? As always, we are here to answer any questions you have. Give us a call for more information!

One of the most common questions we hear from patients when it comes to dental implants is “Why does it take three separate procedures?”

It helps to understand that within the entire dental implant process, there are not just three stages, there are also three important parts to the final product that replaces your tooth. First, there is the implant itself, which is the metal rod that we surgically implant into the bone. Next, there is the abutment, which connects the implant to the artificial tooth. And lastly, the crown (or prosthetic tooth) itself.

The fact that the process has three physical components alone doesn’t tell the whole story though. Here, we explain why the most commonly employed dental implant method is split up into three separate procedures.

Step One: Placing the Implant

The first stage of the dental implant process is to bury the implant in the jaw bone via a surgical procedure. The dental implant replaces the tooth root, and requires healing time. During this healing time, osseointegration (the integration of the bone with the implant itself) occurs. The bone cells actually attach to the implant rod, filling in the spaces to secure the implant in place for permanent residency.   The healing time usually takes from 3-6 months.

Step Two: Placing the Abutment

The abutment is a post that connects the implant to the prosthetic tooth. Essentially, the abutment is a bridge that spans through the gum line so that the implant itself remains buried. As with the implant, the abutment has a healing period of its own. The gum around the abutment must heal and form a cuff or collar around it before the crown can be placed.

Step Three: The Prosthetic Tooth

Once the implant site and abutment have successfully integrated, the prosthetic tooth is fabricated and installed.

If you have any questions about the dental implant process, give us a call!

Dental Implants have become commonplace, with over 3 million people worldwide hosting some sort of implant. Unfortunately, their rising popularity has been accompanied by an increasing number of misconceptions about what they can and can’t do.

Let us help you to understand which of these common messages are true and which are fabricated.

Message #1: Dental implants are more expensive than traditional restorative methods.

Verdict: True and False. While the initial implant installation is more costly than other dental restorative procedures, over time, maintaining dental implants is much easier and cheaper. Other procedures require eventual replacement.  For example, dentures require replacement after 5-10 years while dental bridges must be replaced every 7-10 years.  So in the long run, dental implants can be less expensive than these alternative procedures.

Message #2: Dental implants are exceedingly painful.

Verdict: False. Like most forms of oral surgery, dental implant installation does involve some discomfort. However, patient accounts reveal that the pain is not worse than any typical tooth extraction as doctors use local anesthesia to address and minimize any discomfort during the procedure.

Message #3: Dental implant placement often fails.

Verdict: False. While dental implants do have the possibility of falling out, it is very rare for this to happen. In fact, reports show that 98% of dental implant surgeries are successful.

Message #4: Only young people should get dental implants.

Verdict: False. There is no reason healthy, elderly patients cannot receive implants.  In fact, there are many cases of patients 90 and older undergoing dental implant placement surgery with great success!

Don’t let these common misconceptions get in the way of your decision to get dental implants. Give us a call…we’d be happy to discuss your concerns about dental implants with you to give you a better idea of what this procedure can do for you.

Not everyone is blessed with perfect teeth. Many people would tell you they lack the smile they’ve always wanted due to genetics, disease, and sometimes even accidents. Fortunately, we have a solution. With dental implants, you will no longer feel self-conscious about your smile; but rather delight in having a new and improved grin!

What are dental implants?

Technically, dental implants are replacement roots for missing teeth.  First, the implant, a titanium screw, is inserted into the jawbone.  Next, a removable or permanent replacement tooth is attached to the top of the implant to mirror the appearance of your natural teeth. Currently, over 3 million people worldwide have dental implants and the technology has reached a point where each procedure has a 98% success rate.

Why should I get dental implants?

Beyond simply improving the appearance of your smile, dental implants include many other benefits:

• Oral health: Unlike other restorative procedures, dental implants do not necessitate the reduction or alteration of neighboring teeth, thus resulting in improved oral health overall.  Additionally, dental implants do not interfere with access to neighboring teeth, so it is no harder to brush or floss.
• Longevity: While other dental aides such as dentures and bridges inevitably require replacement, dental implants are extremely durable, lasting many more years and in some cases even a lifetime!
• Convenience: Dental implants do not ever need to be removed for activities such as eating, drinking and brushing, and do not require adhesives.  They act, look and feel just like natural teeth!

How much do dental implants cost?

Dental insurance does not always cover the cost of dental implants.  However, in the long run, dental implants are usually cheaper than other restorative procedures. Because they do not need to be replaced, the initial investment for implants is well worth the price.

Dental implants are becoming a popular trend in the world!  Call us to set up an appointment to upgrade your smile!

Dental implants are rapidly becoming the standard of care in how we, as dental professionals, deal with missing teeth.    And while the incidents of adults losing permanent teeth has been declining for decades, there is still a good chance that at some point in your life you too will require treatment for a lost permanent tooth.

The way this was treated in the past was by one of two methods.  The first method was to install a bridge.  The second commonly used method was dentures.  But both of those methods present their own challenges and hassles to patients.  Thankfully, dental implants have improved so much over the years that more often than not they are a better choice for a patient’s oral care plan.

Here are our top five reasons that dental implants have a leg up on their old competitors.

1. Almost Natural:  Dental implants are so sturdy that they feel and function just like a natural tooth.  This is achieved by inserting a screw into the jaw which is allowed to bond with the bone in that area.
2. Longevity:  Dentures are a long term solution and have the ability to last a lifetime when properly placed and taken care of.  By contrast, traditional bridges last only about 5-7 years.
3. Fully Functional:  Unlike dentures, which have a tendency to slip or feel uncomfortable and might even cause worry about possible embarrassments in public, dental implants don’t move when you are eating, talking or moving around.
4. Face Shape Protection:  When a permanent tooth is lost, over time the face and smile can sag.  Dental implants fill in those spaces and allow you to keep your natural face shape longer!
5. Keeps your Jaw in Shape!  Dental implants actually stimulate natural bone growth when set in the jaw.  Without them, the jaw gets lazy and can deteriorate.

If you have a site in your mouth where you are missing a tooth and have been wondering what to do about it, give us a call today for a consultation to see just how great dental implants can be!