The main thing you need to know about dental implants Essex is that they can do more than just replace a single missing tooth or indeed multiple missing teeth. With dental implants, we are able to save the bone of the jaw from a lifetime of degradation at Crofts Dental Practice and give you a restored sense of self-worth, by ensuring that dentures are fixed to the jaw and that your face shape doesn’t become sunken due to bone loss. This may sound like a lot of too many good things for a small piece of metal to achieve all on its own, but the science behind it is incontrovertible and the benefits have proven to be well worth the surgery.
What is an implant?
A dental implant is a small titanium screw that is inserted into the bone of the jaw in order to fix a false tooth or set of false teeth into place. The reason we use titanium is that it does not tarnish and it is very compatible with human bone matter. Bone tissue loves to fuse with, and grow on to, titanium – making it the premium choice for setting broken bones as well as false teeth.
Common uses
Dental implants Essex can be used for various reasons; a single missing tooth can be replaced with a single implant, indeed even 2 or 3 missing teeth next to one another can be secured to one implant as well. So if you have had serious facial trauma or the rot of one tooth has spread to the ones alongside it, you may only need one implant to support a bridge of 2 or 3 false teeth. Larger bridges can be supported on just two implants; if all the teeth in one quadrant of the mouth are missing, two implants can be used on each side of the gap in order to support a large bridge of false teeth. In the case where the entire top or bottom row of teeth are missing there are different systems used for dentures.
A set of dentures can be secured with only 4 implants which means you don’t need an implant for every tooth in your mouth should you need dentures.
The procedure
Setting dental implants Essex into the bone of the jaw requires surgery, but for nervous and even phobic patients there is always the option to have it done under sedation in order to keep stress levels low. First, your dentist will numb the area that is going to be operated on then they will cut open the gum in order to expose the bone, once this is done we will use a special drill to open a hole in the bone in which we will screw a small titanium implant. The area is then cleaned and you are stitched up and sent home with a temporary crown, bridge or denture in order to await the healing process in which your bone fuses with the titanium, thus securing it in place.
This healing usually takes 6 months and once it is complete you will come in for a second appointment where we will fit an abutment to the implant and clip the false tooth or denture to this newly formed and strong base set within the jaw.