Dental implants currently represent the gold standard in dental prosthetics; getting an implant is the next best thing to a real tooth.
What Is a Dental Implant?
A dental implant is a metal screw that replaces a missing tooth. Implant components include an artificial root, a connector, and a dental crown. Capped with a ceramic crown, an implant looks, feels, and functions almost exactly like a natural tooth.
Benefits of Dental Implants
Implants are excellent tooth replacements because they do more than just replace teeth. Beyond the obvious benefits of helping you chew and smile with confidence, implants also reinforce the bone tissue beneath your gums and prevent facial collapse.
Natural tooth roots stimulate your bone cells to support your teeth and to maintain the height and shape of your smile. But once those roots are gone, there’s no need for your body to maintain the bone that was around them, so the tissue begins to dissolve and the minerals are used elsewhere in your body. Facial collapse is when your mouth takes on a caved-in or sunken look as your jaw bone resorbs from a lack of teeth.
By getting implants, you can stop the process of facial collapse. Implants act just like natural tooth roots and will save your smile from aging and collapsing.
How Dental Implants Are Placed
Getting a dental implant (or even multiple implants) begins with a consultation. You’ll meet with Dr. Tostado, a prosthodontist who specializes in restoring implants, to find out if you’re a candidate for dental implants. Dr. Tostado will answer all of your questions and explain what you can expect during your procedure.
Dr. Tostado works with a surgeon who will place the implant per your treatment plan. He will collaborate closely with the surgeon to ensure that your implant placement harmonizes with the restoration that Dr. Tostado himself will design and place.
The actual surgery for an implant doesn’t take long at all. The implant site will be numbed up so that you don’t feel anything as the surgeon surgically inserts the implant screw into a small hole in your gums and jaw bone and then stitches the gum tissue closed over the implant to let it heal. If you struggle with dental anxiety, then sedation can help you to feel more comfortable during this process.
In a standard dental implant procedure, the next steps will look like this:
- Wait a few months for your implant to integrate with the bone in your mouth
- Wear an alternative prosthetic tooth in the meantime to fill in the gap
- Visit the surgeon again who will open the gums over your implant to expose it and attach an abutment piece
Once your implant is ready, you’ll go back to Dr. Tostado to have it finished off with the crown or bridge that completes your restoration.
Dental Implants: Are You a Candidate?
A dental implant should be the first tooth replacement option up for consideration by anyone who’s missing a tooth. Implants can work for just about anyone regardless of age except for kids and teens whose jaws are still developing.
You can find out whether implants are right for you by having a professional evaluation and comprehensive dental examination with Dr. Tostado.
Most likely, you will qualify for implants as long as you have good oral health and have other health conditions (such as diabetes) under control.
Implants by Dr. Gilberto Tostado
As a prosthodontist, Dr. Tostado is an implant restoration specialist. He works closely with other skilled specialists to provide the best dental implant treatment possible. The restorations he creates include porcelain ceramic crowns, implant overdentures, and even Teeth in a Day, all designed right here in our on-site full dental lab.
Would you like to learn more about how dental implants could benefit you?
Schedule a dental implant consultation with Dr. Tostado at 5 Star Dental Group by filling out our Request an Appointment form or by calling our office.