The Immediate Dental Implant Solution

Here’s the scenario: A person sees the dentist, gets fillings done. Those fillings then deteriorate requiring crowns. The teeth then decay under the crowns and then need to be extracted. Or a person has periodontal disease and the teeth loosen. Fortunately, this problem doesn’t happen to most of us. But for the few that it does happen to, it can be frustrating both for the patient as well as the dentist. Understandably, some patients choose to leave dental care entirely because it just doesn‘t work for them. Some choose to extract many or all of their teeth as a result. Some just let their teeth deteriorate and wait for the inevitable day when they will just have to finally get something done. It’s at that time that some become acquainted with the immediate dental implant solution.

How does the immediate dental implant solution work? The bad, infected teeth are extracted and are replaced by titanium roots known as dental implants. The implants are placed into the bone where the teeth used to be. For many, the bad teeth can be extracted, dental implants placed, and a new set of sparkling white teeth attached to the implants all on the same day. The one thing that you don’t see on the commercials is that the teeth, while beautiful and functional, are temporary teeth. Why? Simply because the gums shrink after surgery. We need to wait for the gums to reach their final position before we make the permanent teeth. This usually happens within three to six months.

The sequence usually goes something like this. You see a dentist or surgeon who does this kind of work. You’ll have an examination done and have a cone beam CT scan This is a low radiation dental scan that allows us to see your supporting jaw bone in three dimensions. That tells us where your best bone is to support the dental implants and gives us a lot of data regarding the position of infections that may be associated with your bad teeth. Impressions and a bite registration of your mouth are then taken. The dentist then works directly with a laboratory that can provide you with temporary teeth. The temporary teeth are often made out of denture materials and are made in a way that they can accept dental implants to secure them in place.

On the day of surgery, the surgeon extracts the teeth, smoothes out any irregularities in the bone, and places the dental implants. The dentist then fits the teeth to the dental implants and literally screws those teeth into the implants.

The immediate implant solution is truly a transforming experience. The patient walks in with badly deteriorated teeth and walks out with a brand new smile. If you have given up on dentistry or have been wearing dentures and just not enjoying life as a result, the immediate implant solution may be just the thing to change your life.

Lee N. Sheldon, DMD