In addition to the obvious changes to your bite and smile, missing teeth cause significant damage to the health of your gums, jaw bone, and surrounding teeth. Replacing missing teeth with dental bridges, dentures, or partial dentures only treats some of these issues and can make it more difficult to maintain proper hygiene. Dr. Ada Parra and Dr. Justin Craighead provide dental implants in Gainesville, FL, replacing the entire tooth, including the root portion. This encourages the health of your gums and jaw bone while enabling you to continue to care for your teeth just as before.
What Are Dental Implants?
A dental implant is a prosthetic that replaced teeth that are missing. These replacement teeth are commonly constructed of titanium alloy. This material is strong, durable and biocompatible with your teeth. It is used to support full and partial dentures as well as dental crowns. These implants are then surgically placed into the upper or lower jaw with a procedure called Osseointegration. These implants are designed to deliver the desired esthetics and to improve the success rate of the replacement teeth.
How Do I Protect The Dental Implants?
Your Gainesville dentist will go over some of the risk factors that impact the long term success of these dental implants. They include poor oral hygiene, unmanaged diabetes and even smoking. It is important you follow the post care instructions for your dental implants that your dentist provides you. This will increase the longevity of these teeth.
How Do These Implants Work?
While dental implants are fascinating, there is some mystery to patients. The dental implants your Gainesville dentist installs have three components to them. They have a fixture, abutment and the prosthetic.
First, the oral surgeon goes into the mouth and installs the fixture (post). They then allow it to heal properly. This is done using a procedure known as osseointegration. Once the fixture has healed into your jawbone, the next step is to take an impression. The impression is used to design the replacement tooth. Your dentist will then set the implant so it appears naturally spaced with your other teeth. This helps to give a natural appearance so only you and your dentist know that you’ve had teeth replaced.
Dental implants have dramatically improved since they were introduced in the 1970s. Today, they look and feel natural. While their success rate continues to improve. To ensure that you have the best experience possible, it is important to work with an experienced professional.
Benefits Of Dental Implants
When you have your dental implants installed by a Gainesville dentist, there are certain benefits. They include the following:
- Chew food naturally without pain
- Improved support for your mouth
- Longer lasting than traditional repairs
- Preservation of remaining teeth
- Reduced jawbone loss
- Replaces the need for loose fitting dentures
- Talk naturally
Did You Know? What If I’m Missing Multiple Teeth? Are All Implant Surgeons The Same?
Premier Dental Team is the only practice in Gainesville Florida to have two surgically trained Prosthodontists. We are also the only practice in Gainesville to have the latest SIRONA 3D CT scan technology combined with the CEREC Omni Cam intraoral scanner and milling machine. What this means to you is we are able to provide a much more accurate diagnosis and computer guided implant surgery. The combined experience and utilizing the latest techniques and technology are critical in ensuring you receive the best possible care and the greatest results.
What If I’m Missing Multiple Teeth?
Dental implants are simply the gold standard for replacing single missing teeth. In addition, they can be used to replace multiple teeth or stabilize a loose or poor fitting denture or partial denture.
Believe it, or not, a full jaw of missing teeth can be replaced by as little as five dental implants! In the case of dentures, especially the bottom denture that typically “floats” in the mouth, can be stabilized with as little as two implants. If you have more than one missing tooth, dental implants can help to restore proper function, as well as esthetics.
Are All Implant Surgeons The Same? Do You Offer Follow-Up Care?
Prosthodontists spend three years in post-graduate residency training learning not only the restoration and surgical placement of dental implants, but, the history, healing on a microscopic level and how to handle complications. The Prosthodontists at Premier Dental Team not only completed post-graduate residency training, but also completed 2 years of additional full time commitment in Fellowship trainings in advanced implant surgery at the University of Florida.
It is very important to know the skill level of your implant surgeon, and restoring dentist, including theire training level, as well as the amount of implant experience they have in practice. Surgeons or restorative dentists who place only a few dental implants each year may not have the experience or expertise to provide the level of treatment and ongoing care that you will need.
Do You Offer Follow-Up Care?
It is extremely important when choosing a surgeon and restoring dentist to find out the level of follow-up care they will offer after your treatment is complete. Prosthodontists follow patients for years after providing dental implant therapy. This allows not only catching any difficulties early in the process but also begin able to deal with the complications if they arrive. In fact at Premier Dental Team part of your routine maintenance includes a warranty on all implants and implant restorations at no additional charge to you! Many surgeons only place the implants and do not see you for lon-term care. You only see them again if you have problems.
Add Some Stability To Your Life
Many people are looking for something more stable and permanent than just another set of dentures. Dr. Craighead and Dr. Parra use dental implants to replace multiple teeth or even a complete arch of missing teeth.
The All-on-4® implant technique provides a dental prosthesis that sits on top of your gums and is anchored to your jaw bone with the assistance of four strategically placed dental implant posts.
Because All-on-4® requires only four implants, Dr. Craighead and Dr. Parra can utilize the places where the jaw bone is strongest. We also use implants to stabilize and attach fixed or removable appliances with implant supported denture procedures.