Dental Implants – Plano, TX
Replacing Your Entire Smile, Roots and All
Traditional bridges and dentures only replace the portion of your teeth that is normally visible in your mouth. Dental implants, on the other hand, are unique in that they can replace the roots of missing teeth as well, giving them unmatched stability and an extremely natural feel. If you’re missing one or more teeth, dental implants from our Plano, TX dentist could be the ideal way to restore your smile! Give us a call today to schedule a consultation and take the first step of the dental implant process.
Why Choose Westpark Village Dental Care for Dental Implants?
- Dental Implants Placed In-House
- High-Quality, Long-Lasting Restorations
- CT/Cone Beam Scanner for Accurate Treatment Planning
What are Dental Implants?
Each dental implant is shaped like a screw and made out of titanium. When teeth are missing, we can insert dental implants into specific parts of the jawbone so that they can support a custom restoration. Dental implants can be used to replace any number of teeth, and they give your new smile enough chewing power to handle virtually any kind of food without issue. Unlike traditional dentures, dental implants are designed to stay anchored in your mouth at all times.
The 4-Step Dental Implant Process
Dental implants are the best tooth replacement option out there. Instead of just restoring the chewing surfaces, they replace the roots of the missing teeth, allowing for additional stability, comfort, and longevity. To achieve this, getting dental implants requires a multi-step process, including a surgical procedure. Continue reading to learn what you can expect.
Initial Dental Implant Consultation
Before you can get dental implants, we need to thoroughly examine your mouth and evaluate your overall oral health. Depending on our findings, we may deem it necessary to have bone grafts or other preliminary procedures performed before scheduling your dental implant surgery. Once your gums and jawbone are in good shape, we can move forward to planning the rest of your treatment.
Dental Implant Surgery
At Westpark Village Dental of Plano, we are proud to complete the dental implant placement procedure in-house. This means that you don’t need to work with an outside specialist at a separate location. Our team will begin by numbing your mouth with a local anesthetic. Then, they will insert the dental implant posts into your jawbone. The location and position of each post will be carefully determined beforehand. Lastly, the gums are closed, and protective caps are placed over the ends of the implants to keep them safe throughout the healing process.
Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment
Your dental implants will take about three to six months to completely heal. During this time, the dental implant posts will fuse with your jawbone in a process called “osseointegration.” This is what makes dental implants have such a high success rate. At this point, we’ll be able to attach a metal connector piece called an abutment to each post. Impressions are also taken of your mouth so your final restorations can be made.
Delivery of Dental Implant Restoration(s)
The last step is to design and place a crown, bridge, or denture to complete your smile. The restoration will be expertly designed using the impression taken of your mouth. Once it’s ready, you can return to our office so we can attach your replacement teeth to your dental implants via the abutments. If everything looks and feels great, you will be free to show off your new and complete smile to the world!
Benefits of Dental Implants
Since more than half a million dental implants are placed every year, they are rapidly becoming one of the most popular forms of tooth replacement. Because of how these devices are surgically placed directly into the jawbone, they give the restorations mounted on them (i.e. a crown, bridge, or denture) the secure hold they need to exert maximum chewing power and remain functional for many years. Here’s a brief guide to a few of the remarkable benefits that dental implants from our office in Plano can provide.
Day-to-Day Benefits
Dental implants can significantly improve a patient’s day-to-day life in ways such as:
- Preventing the mounted dental restoration from slipping out of place during speech or chewing.
- Allowing patients to adequately chew any food they like so they can enjoy a tasty, diverse, and nutritious diet.
- Requiring only the same hygiene regimen as real teeth so that patients don’t have to worry about elaborate cleaning rituals such as those required by dentures or bridges.
- Giving patients the confidence they need to smile confidently at friends, family, and strangers.
Health Benefits
Dental implants can also make it easier for patients to maintain their oral and overall health in the long run. A few health benefits include:
- Securing the dental restoration in place so it doesn’t slip around on the gums, which can cause soft tissue irritation as well as damage to your natural teeth.
- Providing the jawbone with exercise during the chewing process, which can prevent or even reverse the process of bone erosion that occurs after tooth loss and makes further oral health problems more likely.
- Preventing neighboring teeth from shifting out of alignment.
- Giving patients the chewing power they need to enjoy the varied and nutritious diet the human body needs to remain healthy and strong.
- Being easy to clean, which makes it easier to prevent oral infections.
Long-Term Benefits
Dental implants can also serve a patient for an incredibly long time. A few of the long-term benefits of implants are:
- A 95% success rate even ten years after the appliances are placed, making them a sound investment in your oral health.
- Lasting for thirty years or possibly a lifetime if they receive proper care, meaning that you won’t have to worry about getting replacement appliances like you would with bridges or dentures.
- Since a patient with good oral hygiene is unlikely to require costly replacements, dental implants can potentially save them thousands of dollars over the years.
Who Dental Implants Can Help
If you are an adult, are in good enough health for minor surgery, do not have lingering oral health issues like gum disease, and can commit to practicing excellent oral hygiene at home, you may be a good candidate for dental implants. We can determine whether this procedure is the best choice for you during an initial consultation. Once you’ve committed to the treatment, we’ll walk you through the steps of the procedure so that you know what to expect.
Missing One Tooth
Replacing a single tooth with dental implants is a relatively simple matter. All we need is one dental implant post and a customized crown. Said crown can be made out of materials that match the color and light-reflecting properties of your natural enamel, making it look as though you never lost a tooth in the first place.
Missing Multiple Teeth
We don’t have to place a separate implant post for every tooth that’s missing in your mouth. Three or more consecutive teeth can be replaced with a dental bridge supported by a pair of implant posts. Unlike traditional bridges that use natural teeth for support, implant bridges don’t require us to make permanent changes to your enamel.
Missing All of Your Teeth
We can replace all of your missing teeth at once with dentures and a strategic number of implant posts. The exact number of posts we place will vary depending on your needs, but you can usually expect it to be anywhere from four to eight. The implant posts will prevent your restoration from slipping at inconvenient moments.
Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants
At your initial consultation, we’ll provide you with an estimate of how much you can expect to pay for your dental implants. The final price will be determined based on various factors, such as the number of teeth that have to be replaced and whether any preliminary procedures will need to be completed beforehand. In addition to explaining the costs, we can also review what options are available to help you pay for dental implants in a way that doesn’t break the bank.