What is Dental Implants? and the process involved in surgical treatment.
- April 25, 2019
- Dr. Pinali Javeri Menon
Dental Implants, also known as an artificial tooth which is used as a replacement of missing tooth or else damaged tooth due to various reasons. The dental implants treatment involves a oral surgical process which may take as long as 4-6 months to complete it.
Components of Dental Implants
There are mainly 3 components involved in dental implants surgery. 1) Dental Implant also called metal post (acts as a dental root). 2) Abutment (acts as a bridge between the dental implant and dental crown). 3) Dental Crown is also known as artificial tooth placed over the abutment.
Dental Implants Surgery Process
This oral surgery is completed in 3-4 stages, starting from the primary dental examination. In your first appointment, the dental specialist will examine your oral health history and condition of the jawbone, etc. After the primary check-up, you may be asked for the dental examination in which oral health-related questions will be asked to answer. You should provide an appropriate answer in order to identify the actual pain and strength of your mouth for the surgery point of view.
Moving to the next stage of the surgery process, first, the doctor will explain the upcoming treatment procedure along with financial part such as the cost involved in the surgery, insurance accepted, and mode of payments, etc. Once the patient gets ready for treatment the doctor will first take the dental x-ray to check the tooth damage intensity or the jawbone density.
In the next step, a dental specialist will give you the local anesthesia or IV sedation to avoid the pain during the surgery. If you have damaged tooth it will be extracted with special dental tools, if not, your jawbone is made cut in order to make a hole to place the implant tooth which is a titanium metal post. The jawbone is drilled to make an incision for the dental implant (metal post). The jawbone should have healthy and strong enough to grip the metal implant if the jawbone is not strong enough then the dentist will suggest for the bone grafting surgery. In the bone graft surgery, the gum is taken out from another part of the mouth and added to it to make it extra strong in order to hold implant tooth rigidly. Once the implant tooth is inserted into the jawbone it will start to heal the implant which is called osseointegration and it may take from 4-6 months to heal completely.
Once after the implant tooth is inserted into the jawbone the dentist will release you to take the rest until the healing process is over. After this, you may feel a little discomfort with your implant tooth or mild pain may get started, in order to avoid this the doctor will provide you the mild pain killer. Please consult your doctor if the pain gets worse, it may cause a major issue in the future.
In your next visit, the dentist will check implant healing with gum tissue, if the implant tooth healed completly with gum tissue then the doctor will place an abutment over the implant tooth. The abutment is a small piece of a nut which acts as a bridge between implant tooth and artificial tooth placed over it. The artificial tooth is known as Dental Crown (Teeth Cap) which looks like a natural tooth and it is placed over the abutment. Before placing the dental crown over the abutment the dentist will take the impression of similar teeth from the mouth in order to prepare the dental crown to fit it in the right position.
