Missing any number of teeth can take a toll on your quality of life and your oral health. Dental implants, a popular restorative dentistry technique, provide several highly effective solutions to replacing missing teeth.
At Inspira Advanced Dentistry in Campbell, CA, Dr. Stephanie Loller and her team offer dental implants to restore appearance and function. With decades of experience and training, our providers make sure you feel comfortable and confident throughout the treatment process.
What Are Dental Implants?
A dental implant is a restorative dental prosthetic used to securely support a dental restoration to replace one or more lost teeth.
Dental implants consist of three basic components:
- Implant Anchor: The anchor is a screw-like prosthetic made of biocompatible metal. The anchor is implanted directly in the jawbone to mimic a natural tooth’s root system and provide a secure, permanent support structure.
- Implant Abutment: Also made of biocompatible metal, the abutment connects to the anchor and supports a restoration.
- Permanent Dental Restoration: The restoration is the only visible portion of a dental implant that replaces the portion of a missing tooth located above the gum line. Usually made of highly durable tooth-colored porcelain, restoration options include dental crowns, dental bridges, or full or partial dentures.
Benefits of Dental Implants
While there are several options for replacing missing teeth, such as dental bridges and traditional dentures, dental restorations supported by implants offer several advantages over other treatment alternatives:
- Lifetime Tooth Replacement: Dental implants are designed to last a lifetime. With proper ongoing oral hygiene and care, this investment in your oral health should never need to be replaced.
- Enhance Your Smile: Implant-supported dental restorations are designed to look beautiful and natural. Whether you’re replacing one, several, or all of your teeth with an implant-supported restoration, your treatment will be custom-designed to blend in with the remaining natural teeth while enhancing your overall features and bone structure.
- Work and Feel Like Natural Teeth: An implant-supported dental restoration is the only tooth-replacement treatment option that works and feels exactly like your natural teeth.
- Support Jawbone Health: When a natural tooth is lost, the jawbone beneath the missing tooth begins to degenerate. Over time, this can harm the health of remaining natural teeth, alter your bone structure, and change your physical appearance. Dental implants prevent jawbone degeneration, supporting ongoing oral health and preserving your facial features.
- Versatile Treatment Options: Dental implants can support a variety of prosthetic dental restorations. As a result, they can be used in a variety of treatment cases.
- Paired with dental crowns, implants replace teeth on a one-for-one basis.
- Paired with a dental bridge, one or two implants can replace several consecutive missing teeth.
- Paired with a full or partial denture, a number of strategically placed dental implants (four, six, or eight) can replace all or most of a patient’s teeth.
What to Expect: The Treatment Process with Dental Implants
The process of restoring a smile with dental implants varies slightly for each patient. Primarily, it varies depending on the patient’s current jawbone health and structure, oral health, remaining teeth, and the type of dental restoration required.
Consultation
The process always begins with a consultation, which includes an oral examination, diagnostic images, and the design of the treatment plan.
Treatment Preparation: Bone Grafting and Tooth Extraction
Some patients may require tooth extraction or bone grafting before dental implant treatment. These procedures are followed by periods of healing and/or bone formation before treatment begins.
Implant Placement
Dental implant placement is a minor oral surgical procedure that is usually performed with local anesthesia and sedation dentistry to help patients stay comfortable and relaxed.
Healing and Osseointegration
After the implant anchor is placed, a period of healing will begin. During this time, the anchor osseointegrates with the jawbone, forming a strong and secure bond.
Abutment Placement
After fully healed, the abutment will be attached to the anchor. Depending on how a patient’s soft tissues have healed after implant placement, this procedure may require a short healing period.
Dental Restoration Placement
Once fully healed, we securely and permanently attach the patient’s custom-designed dental restoration to the implant abutment, completing the treatment process.
Why Choose Inspira Advanced Dentistry for Dental Implants in Campbell, CA?
The Inspira Advanced Dentistry team is a trusted choice for dental implants, thanks to our highly skilled team of experts who use state-of-the-art technology to ensure precise, efficient procedures. We offer a personalized approach to each patient, taking their unique needs and concerns into account. Our implants are also of the highest quality, providing a natural appearance and a long-lasting solution for missing teeth. Plus, we offer flexible payment options, making our high-quality care accessible to more people.
Schedule a Smile Restoration Consultation
If you are missing one or more teeth, you don’t have to suffer with a diminished quality of life. Instead, we encourage you to consider smile restoration with dental implants. To find out if dental implants are the right treatment option for you, call (408) 298-0777 to book a consultation at Inspira Advanced Dentistry today.
