• By The Cosmetic Clinic
• Dental
• Jan 06, 2021

Dental Implant, an artificial replacement to your natural missing tooth: A Dental Implant in simple words, is the best alternative to a missing tooth. It is essentially a prosthetic replacement that serves as a substitute to any of your missing natural teeth, comprising a crown and the root.

The crown is the visible feature of your tooth, which is generally covered with white enamel. It is supported by a tooth root that extends right up to the jawbone, which is replaced by a Dental Implant.

Furthermore, this Implant itself comprises three parts: the device itself, which inserts straight into the jawbone, and the abutment connects the implant tool with the overlying crown or denture, the third part of the Dental Implant.

What are the types of Dental Implant available to you?

Three types of Dental Implant are available for you to choose from.

They include:

• Endosteal Implant
• Subperiosteal Implant
• Zygomatic Implant
• Ridge Modification
• Sinus Modification

Among which the Endosteal Implant is the most commonly used because it is the safest. While the Zygomatic type due, its complexity is rarely used in clinical practice. More importantly, it is the dentist who chooses the dental implant best suitable for you.

While Ridge Modification and Sinus Modification are forms of dental implantation procedures required in an individual having an abnormal jawbone that prevents enough bone space for implementation, or in someone whose sinuses are dislocated and hence an implant cannot be inserted into the upper jawbone.

The procedure used in inserting the Dental Implant to replace your missing tooth?

The procedure for inserting a Dental Implant involves 4 stages.

They are as follows:

1. Diagnosis and Treatment Planning Stage:

The missing tooth is evaluated well, and the number of implant screws and crowns needed is determined based on the space around it available. X-rays are done, and measurements are taken during this initiation phase.

2. Placement of Implant Stage:

This phase in the Dentist performs on you a minor surgical procedure using local anaesthesia.

3. Healing Stage:

The implant is then allowed to fuse within the underlying jaw bone to help it stabilize and bear the biting load that comes once the crown has been placed. This phase can take 3 to 4 months to complete depending on your overall physical and dental health.

4. Prosthetic Stage:

Finally, once the osseointegration of the Dental implant screw with bone is done and dusted using X-Rays to confirm, the implant is fixed with the crown.

When should you get Dental Implants inserted?

There are a few tell-tale signs that should give you an idea and indicate to your Dentist that a Dental Implant is what you need.

They are:

• Make sure you visit a dentist regularly.
• Avoid consuming food items such as coffee, soya sauce, or red wine to stain your teeth.
• Ensure that you maintain your dental hygiene which includes brushing your teeth at least two times a day.
• Rectify quickly bad dental habits such as teeth grinding.

However, it is essential that before inserting a dental implant, your overall health is good, and you do not have any underlying conditions that can hurt the healing of your jawbone.

How do you prepare for Dental Implants?

'Time' which is such a precious commodity in life is what the process of Dental Implantation does consume. Therefore, you must show patience and willingness to wait for as long as three to six months for the bone in the jaw to heal first before an implant can be inserted.

In other words, you must be able to commit to a long-term and not short-term time frame to get the desired result. Additionally, it must also note that inserting an implant is a far more durable solution than others, such as dentures.

Do you feel the pain of Dental Implantation?

It is usual for you to feel the pain after undergoing a procedure such as Dental implant surgery. Besides, you could also experience some mild bruising and swelling, which lasts for just one week.

This is to say that, the pain of inserting a Dental implant usually does not turn out to be severe, and can be managed using mild pain medications.

What does the Dental Implant Process feel for you?

There is nothing more depressing for you in social life than having to know that one tooth or several are missing. This is mainly because your teeth' loss could affect your bite, your speech, and most important of all the aesthetics of your beautiful smile.

While a gap-toothed grin may look cute when you are a child, it is nothing but embarrassment and could lead to loss of confidence as a grown-up adult. Therefore, it becomes essential for you to get a dental implant to permanently avoid having to deal with such an unpleasant situation in life.

Once you have decided to restore that radiant smile filled with the confidence, you can start taking steps to acquire Dental implants. It is a process that takes months to get done from start to finish. Therefore you need to be prepared to undergo a long grind if you want to enjoy that feeling of smiling wide with no fear every single day of your life.

How should you take care of your Dental Implant?

When it comes to Dental implant, you must remember that it is just like your natural teeth, and hence requires to be maintained well. You can use many ways to manage your dental implant to help ensure that they last long.

Generally, your dentist will provide you with all the do's and don'ts that must be followed while managing your dental implant.

However, we at 'The Cosmetic Clinic' have a few helpful tips that you could use to take care of your 'Dental Implants'.

They are as follows:

• Make sure you visit a dentist regularly.
• Avoid consuming food items such as coffee, soya sauce, or red wine to stain your teeth.
• Ensure that you maintain your dental hygiene which includes brushing your teeth at least two times a day.
• Rectify quickly bad dental habits such as teeth grinding.

Are Dental Implants right for you?

This million-dollar question asked by many people actually can only be answered depending on the health of your teeth. Which means that, if in case your tooth or several teeth are either missing or so badly damaged that any kind of repair is not possible, is when it becomes the right time to use a dental implant.

It must also be worth noting that the use of options such as a denture is far less effective than a dental implant.