Dental Implants
There are many ways one can lose a tooth. Everything from tooth and gum disease to facial injuries can hinder your smile permanently. Tooth loss can impact your ability to speak properly and chew your food, and it can hamper your self-confidence.
We Have The Solution
- Endosteal — This is the most common implant, where the metal implant comes in the form of a screw, post or blade that is bonded directly into the jawbone. This protects against bone decay while also holding one or more prosthetic teeth firmly in place.
- Subperiosteal — In certain situations, direct implant bonding to the jawbone may not be possible for a patient either due to bone height or other health issues. Therefore, the implant is instead secured on top of the jawbone using a metal framework that comes up through the gum to hold the implant in place.
Our dentists and team offer dental implants that can replace single teeth or can even address multiple tooth loss and denture substitution. Aside from dental issues, implants can address upper and lower jaw issues, sinus augmentation and ridge modification. Beyond the immediate and obvious health improvements, implants also offer numerous benefits such as:
- Convenience — Rather than having to maintain and keep track of removable dentures, implants eliminate the mess, fuss and ongoing cost, requiring no more effort than normal teeth.
- Durability — When you choose a high-quality implant, it can last for decades, even a lifetime! It can offer a more long-term solution than a temporary dental cap or bridge.
- Aesthetics — With no caps or bridges, dental implants look and function just like ordinary teeth. No one will be able to tell the difference when you flash your now full smile!
- Confidence — And speaking of full smiles, what better way to give your self-esteem a boost than to fill in unsightly gaps with a dental implant? You’ll enjoy better comfort, oral function and appearance without having to worry about constant maintenance or care.
Benefits of Dental Implants
If you’re missing one or several of your teeth and are seeking a more effective alternative to bridges and complete or partial dentures, you may want to consider asking our dentists at Paramount Dental Center about dental implants.
The benefits of working with our outstanding team go beyond comfort and hospitality. Our experienced implantologist, Dr. Abu, has undergone three years of extensive dental training with two years at Brookdale University Hospital in surgical and prosthetic implantology. During this time, he was awarded a fellowship from the International Congress of Oral Implantology and an Associate Fellowship from the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. Dr. Abu is readily available to provide leading restorative and surgical procedures to all of our amazing Klure implant candidates.
Dental implants supply a more natural tooth replacement than dentures since the artificial teeth are connected directly to the jawbone and offer a myriad of oral benefits. To effectively benefit from dental implants, you must be in good health (aside from missing teeth) and have a fully developed and healthy jawbone — healthy gums and a healthy jawbone are necessary to support the implants.
Implants are proven to last much longer than any other standard tooth restoration option. Often, they may go decades, if not a lifetime, without necessary replacement or alteration. Bridges have the tendency to have short lives, 5 to 10 years, compared to dental implants. So, while a bridge can sometimes be more affordable at first, in the long run, a dental implant can cost you significantly less time and money. Checkups are always recommended, of course. However, unlike other replacement alternatives, implants are built to last a lifetime!
Among the greatest benefits of an implant is that it restores full chewing power. Dental implants effectively mimic the natural strength and durability of your teeth. Many patients cannot discriminate between their natural teeth and the implant tooth. They can consume what they want when they want and can brush and floss as they always have.
Numerous studies have proven that oral implants will not affect your speaking abilities since implants mimic the natural formation and shape of your teeth, so your speech will not be altered by any protruding or foreign obstructions. Many patients with dentures are negatively affected in social circumstances by their inability to articulate words in the same manner as they did prior to receiving dentures.
Dental implants have been shown to lower the need for subsequent corrective intervention of surrounding teeth. Dental implants preserve natural tooth tissue by avoiding the need to reduce adjacent teeth for traditional bridgework. A bridge, on the other hand, typically requires two healthy teeth to be altered, which is not an ideal way of addressing a missing tooth when compared to a dental implant.
When a tooth is lost, the jawbone below it starts to diminish and degrade and ends up being brittle from lack of exercise. Not only does losing a tooth impact your smile, it likewise alters the shape of your face, causing you to look prematurely aged. Facial sagging can be an undesirable impact of bone loss resulting from missing teeth. This is where the lower third of the face begins to collapse, slowly closing the distance between the tip of the nose and chin. Changes can include excess wrinkles around the mouth, thinning lips and a more pointed chin, making the person look a lot older. Dental implants will preserve bone and substantially lower bone resorption and degeneration that leads to loss of jawbone height.
A dental implant minimizes the load on the oral structures and teeth by providing independent assistance and retention to crowns, bridgework and overdentures. The implant is made from titanium that will naturally incorporate with the jawbone. Implants are fully biocompatible, meaning that it’s non-toxic and will not be rejected by your body.
Dental Implant Services
Dental implants, typically made of titanium, are a safe and reliable replacement for single or multiple teeth that effectively mimic the natural structure of your tooth. Since implants become directly connected to the jawbone and mesh with your natural bone over time, dental implants provide a stable and durable base for your replacement teeth that replicate the natural formation of teeth. Paramount Dental Center offers an array of different implant options for our patients. We understand that every mouth is different and requires a unique approach to perfection. That is why we require all of our team members to be diligently trained and skilled in a variety of implant options and procedures.
Full-Arch Restoration
In some extreme cases, the goal to “conserve” teeth with root canals, posts, cores and crowns is not viable or logical when weighed against a full-arch remediation on dental implants. We understand that our patients do not wish to invest years rehabilitating teeth with traditional dental corrective approaches just to have those remediations require replacement later. A full set of teeth supported on dental implants ends up being a significantly more foreseeable and feasible plan for some patients. A full-arch prosthesis can be developed from as few as five or six implants, depending on the case.
Single-Stage Implants
A single-stage dental implant procedure involves surgically positioning a longer implant into the jaw so that it is on the jawbone, with the top of the implant level with the gum tissue, after which the gum tissue is closed (sewn), leaving the implant head visible. As a result, after a number of months of healing, the dental implant abutment and temporary restoration can be connected without surgical treatment to expose the implant head.
Endosteal Implants
Endosteal Implants are inserted directly into the jawbone. Typically shaped like little screws, cylinders or plates, they are the most commonly used variety of implant. A customized endosteal implant is a cast surgical-grade titanium metal frame that is custom designed to fit snugly on your jawbone.
When the implant is positioned on the bone, synthetic bone is put over and around the implant, and then your gums are closed over it. Then, removable dentures or repaired partial bridgework are anchored to the implant posts or a bar above the gums. These implants are covered with a special synthetic bone alternative called Hydroxylapatite (HA). Ninety-eight percent of natural bone is made up of HA crystals. This HA finish fools your jaw into thinking that the implant is natural bone. Your natural bone turns into the HA covering, forming a biochemical bond that holds the implant securely in place.
Custom-made endosteal implants are all based on the exact specifications of the patient’s unique jawbone. Initially, an oral replica is created using a CT scan image of the jaw. The custom endosteal implant is then produced in accordance with this jaw replica. The customized endosteal implant structure fits snugly over the jawbone. Removable dentures are anchored to the implant posts to complete the procedure.
Subperiosteal Implants
“Subperiosteal” means “on top of the bone.” Subperiosteal implants are placed under your gums and on top of your jawbone. This variety of implant is most commonly recommended for patients who have a shallow jawbone and are not eligible for as invasive of a procedure as endosteal implants.
Whereas routine endosteal dental implants are positioned straight in the jawbone, subperiosteal implants are put on top of the jawbone right beneath the gums. They comprise a cage-like metal framework that is positioned over the arch of your jawbone. In time, your jawbone anneals to the metal structure, fixing and locking the implant root.
Crowns or false teeth are attached to little metal rods that extend through the gums and are attached to this metal structure. If we recommended subperiosteal implants for you, likely among the reasons is that your personal bone health would make recovery from a routine implant procedure excessively difficult. The first step in creating subperiosteal dental implants is to take an impression of your jawbone. Our dentists can do this by taking a direct impression of your mouth with dental impression putty. However, the impression can likewise be developed with CT scan-generated images. We will then use this impression to create the metal framework that will support your implants.
Once the structure is prepared, it will be surgically embedded below your gums. Posts attached to the structure will remain above your gums. When the tissue around the framework has recovered, your replacement teeth will be attached to the posts, and your procedure will be completed.
Think dental implants may improve your smile? Call us today or visit our dental office in Kirkland or Seattle, Washington, for a free consultation with Dr. Colin Del Rosario, Dr. Alfadhli Abu or Dr. Julie Vu. We want you looking and feeling your best, always.