If you have lost teeth, or you have teeth that are loose and failing, then dental implants can often provide the longest lasting and surprisingly the most cost-effective solution.

Single ImplantSingle ImplantImplant Retained DentureBefore and After Dental Implants

Some Questions I Had About Dental Implants

What are Dental implants? Implants are precision manufactured threaded posts that are placed into the jawbone as a replacement for the root of the tooth that has been lost.

Can anyone have Dental Implants? With modern techniques even patients with reduced bone density and low sinus cavities can now have dental implants.

Do Dental Implants Hurt? Most patients have commented that even the day after insertion of dental implants (or tooth implants – teeth implants) they didn’t even notice that the dental implants were there.

Are they safe? and how long will they last? They are perfectly safe. Dental implants usually last for up to 15 years with proper maintenance. By comparison bridges on original teeth will usually only last for up to 8 years. With good oral hygiene, as with your natural teeth, dental implants will last even longer, and regular hygienist appointments are recommended for dental implant longevity.

Are the implanted teeth difficult to clean? Cleaning around the teeth attached to the dental implants is no more difficult than cleaning natural teeth. You need to care for implanted teeth as you would for natural teeth. You should keep them clean, and as with natural teeth smoking doesn’t help.

Artificial teeth attached to implants can only be placed and removed by a dentist. However, over-dentures fixed on dental implants can be removed by a patient for cleaning.

Dental Implant Problems. A small percentage of dental implants are rejected by the body’s immune system. The average dental implant rejection rate worldwide is 4%. In the case that a patient’s body rejects an implant there are clinical remedies that can be used to overcome an implant rejection, and the technology continues to improve.

How long does the treatment take to complete? Dental Implant treatment usually requires from 3 up to 7 visits. The first appointment would be the consultation, which would take around 45 minutes and include a CT scan to determine a patient’s suitability for dental Implants. The overall treatment time should not exceed 8 months.

Can I have a tooth extracted and have a dental implant placed at the same time? Yes, if the bone depth and density is sufficient an implant can be placed immediately following an extraction, but it should not be loaded (used as a normal tooth) until bone integration has taken place.

Will I need an implant for each missing tooth? No, unless you’re only having a single tooth replaced. Normally, five or six implants are used to replace all the teeth in one jaw, as each implant can usually support two teeth.

Is a CT scan required before I can have dental implants? A CT scan is the perfect diagnostic system to determine a patient’s suitability for implants, and gives a 3D computed tomography (CT) image of the lower part of the skull.

Can implants be placed without a CT scan? A panoramic x-ray can’t measure bone depth with the same degree of accuracy as a CT scanner, nor can it measure bone thickness or density. A CT scan eliminates any guesswork, thereby reducing the risk to the patient.