Enjoy a Complete Smile Again
After losing any number of teeth, it won’t be long before you realize just how important a complete smile is for everyday tasks like speaking and chewing. At Waban Dental Group, our team of dental experts – which includes a prosthodontist and a periodontist – can help you fill in the gaps in your grin with long-lasting, natural-looking dental implants. Give us a call today if you’re interested in learning more about dental implants in Newton and the many advantages they offer!
Why Choose Waban Dental Group for Dental Implants?
- Start-to-Finish Dental Implant Procedures
- In-Office Prosthodontist and Periodontist
- 40+ Years of Improving Smiles
What Are Dental Implants?
By itself, a dental implant looks more like a screw than a tooth. But once it has been placed in the jaw and allowed to form a bond with the surrounding bone, it can act as an artificial root for a lifelike crown, bridge, or denture. Dental implants are often seen as the modern gold standard of tooth-replacement options thanks to the many benefits they provide, such as enhanced chewing power and stability.
The 4-Step Dental Implant Process
Dental implants are quickly becoming one of the most popular tooth replacement options, offering incredible stability and a natural feel that can’t be matched. At Waban Dental Group, we complete the entire implant process in-house from placement to final restoration, ensuring precision and comfort every step of the way. But how do we create flawless implant restorations every time?
There’s a four-step process that is carefully planned and executed for each and every patient, creating a long-lasting, functional smile. While the procedure takes time, the results are well worth it! Read more below to learn what you can expect during your dental implant treatment.
Initial Dental Implant Consultation
The process begins with a consultation consisting of a thorough oral exam and extensive planning. During this visit, we:
- Examine your teeth, gums, and jawbone with digital X-rays.
- Discuss your medical history and any risk factors due to lifestyle habits, genetics, or medication.
- Create a customized treatment plan that takes all these factors into account.
Careful planning is what makes dental implants so successful, so if we find any roadblocks based on our findings, we’ll address them before your treatment begins. For example, if your jawbone has deteriorated due to tooth loss, we may recommend a bone graft before implant placement. Once we finalize the plan, we’ll schedule your implant surgery.
Dental Implant Surgery
While many dental practices rely on outside specialists to perform implant surgery, at our Newton practice, we do every placement entirely in-house. This is not only more convenient but also saves you money by encapsulating every aspect of the process under one roof. Here's what you can expect during implant surgery:
- First, the implant site is numbed with local anesthesia for a pain-free experience.
- Next, a small incision is created in your gums to access the underlying jawbone.
- Then, a screw-like implant fixture is strategically placed into the implant site.
- Finally, the gum tissue around the fixture is sutured to protect the implant and begin the healing process.
Thanks to our expertise and technology, the procedure is minimally invasive, with most patients experiencing little to no downtime.
Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment Placement
Waiting is always the hardest part, but once you’ve entered the healing phase, you’re almost there! Over the next three to six months, your implant will undergo a process known as osseointegration, where the bone fuses with the titanium post. This creates a stable foundation for your new restoration, whether it’s a crown, a bridge, or a denture.
Once healing is complete, we perform a minor procedure to attach the abutment (a small connector) to the implant fixture. Then, we take impressions that are sent to a partnered dental lab so they can craft your custom restoration. After another two weeks to a month of healing time, you’re ready for the final step!
Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations
At last, it’s time to attach your new restoration. During your visit, we’ll secure your prosthetic to the abutment and make any final adjustments to ensure a great fit and natural bite.
Once complete, you’ll walk out with a fully restored, functional restoration that looks and feels just like the real thing. And, with proper care, your dental implant can last a lifetime!
Benefits of Dental Implants
Dental implants are the gold standard for replacing missing teeth, offering excellent durability, function, and aesthetics. Unlike traditional restoration methods like dentures or bridges, implants fuse with your jawbone, creating a strong anchor point for prosthetic teeth. At Waban Dental Group, we recommend implants for our patients because of the numerous benefits they offer. Whether you’re missing one tooth or several, this long-term solution helps you eat, speak, and smile with ease. But how transformative are dental implants, really? Read more below to see the many ways they can improve your life.
Day-to-Day Benefits
Dental implants are incredible in the way they feel and function just like natural teeth. With this level of stability and comfort, you’ll see many small day-to-day benefits right away. Implants can allow you to:
- Eat All Your Favorite Foods: Enjoy any meal you’d like without restrictions.
- Speak Clearly: No more slipping prosthetics, discomfort, or speech impediments due to missing teeth.
- Smile with Confidence: Implants are beautiful and blend seamlessly with your natural teeth.
- Avoid Added Maintenance: No more hassle with adhesives or special cleaning solutions, just brush and floss your teeth like normal.
At our Newton dental office, we ensure your implants reflect your true smile so you can enjoy a worry-free and confident grin every day.
Health Benefits
Beyond aesthetics and daily convenience, dental implants also offer multiple health benefits, including:
- Jawbone Preservation: Implants stimulate jawbone growth like natural tooth roots, preventing bone loss that occurs with missing teeth.
- Tooth Structure Stability: Unlike bridges, implants don’t rely on reducing adjacent teeth, reducing strain and preserving their strength.
- Lower Risk of Decay & Infection: A complete smile eliminates food traps that can harbor bacteria and cause oral health issues like cavities and gum disease.
- Improved Digestion: Implants restore 70 percent or more of your bite force, improving your ability to chew and digest food.
Long-Term Benefits
Dental implants are built to stand the test of time, making them a smart long-term investment. With proper care, they can last for decades, or even a lifetime, offering:
- Cost-Effectiveness: While the initial cost of implants is higher, they don’t wear out easily, eliminating the need for ongoing adjustments or replacements.
- Permanent Stability: Dental implants have a success rate of over 95 percent, meaning you’ll enjoy their benefits for many, many years.
- A More Youthful Appearance: After tooth loss, your jawbone will begin to deteriorate over time, creating a sunken or hollow appearance. Dental implants prevent this, allowing you to stay looking younger, longer.
Dental implants aren’t just about replacing teeth—they’re about restoring confidence, health, and peace of mind. If you're ready to experience a healthy, lasting smile reach out to us today and schedule your consultation.
Who Dental Implants Can Help
If you have one or more missing teeth, you may qualify for dental implants if you meet the following criteria:
- You don’t have any health issues that would stop you from having minor surgery performed.
- You are in good oral health overall, meaning you have no cavities or gum disease.
- You have enough bone in your jaw to have dental implants placed.
Note that some patients may need to complete preparatory treatments in order to fulfill the criteria listed above. If you are a dental implant candidate, you can get implant posts to address the following tooth loss situations.
Missing One Tooth
A single gap in your smile may not seem like a big deal, but it can lead to more serious oral health issues later. Our team can fill in the gap with a dental implant post and a crown made out of natural-looking materials.
Missing Multiple Teeth
When three or more teeth in a row are missing, a dental bridge and a pair of dental implants can be used to replace them all at once. Also, a partial denture can be combined with a strategic number of implant posts in order to replace any teeth that were lost throughout your mouth.
Missing All Teeth
The idea of replacing all of your teeth with dental implants may seem daunting, but oftentimes, only four to six implant posts are needed to support a full denture. Thanks to the stability of the implant posts, implant dentures don’t slip the way that traditional dentures sometimes do.
Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants
Our team can explain the various factors that can affect the cost of dental implants, such as the surgery itself, the number of implants needed, the materials used, and any required preliminary work. While dental implants tend to cost more than traditional bridges and dentures, they also don’t need to be replaced as often, and you don’t need to invest in any special cleaning solutions to take care of them.
Dental Implant FAQs
Do Dental Implants Feel Natural?
Dental implants are often described as being the next best thing to natural teeth. They are designed to function, feel, and look as natural as possible. Once your implants successfully bond with your jawbone and your new restorations are set in place, they should very quickly start to feel normal and comfortable in your mouth.
Of course, it is important to remember that dental implants do not have nerve endings like natural teeth. Therefore, you should not expect the same hot/cold sensations from them that you experience with natural dentition.
Do Dental Implants Decay?
Dental implants are made of titanium alloy, and the artificial teeth on top of them are usually made of porcelain. These materials do not decay like natural tooth enamel. They are invulnerable to cavities!
With that being said, it is important to note that the tissue around dental implants remains vulnerable to harm. An overabundance of oral bacteria could cause a dangerous infection in your gum tissue that might eventually lead to dental implant failure. That is why dental hygiene does not lose any of its importance when you receive artificial teeth.
Is There Anything I Shouldn’t Eat with Dental Implants?
Dental implants can provide a bite force that is almost equal to that of natural teeth. In other words, they are strong enough to stand up to virtually any food, including tough meats, raw veggies, and more.
Of course, reasonableness is still essential. As you are healing from your dental implant surgery, you should eat a soft diet that will not irritate your surgical sites. Even after you have fully healed, you should plan your meals so that you consume lots of nutrient-rich foods that can support your oral and overall health.
How Long Do Dental Implants Last?
The lifespan of dental implants depends on a few factors. Under ideal conditions, they can last an entire lifetime!
To help your dental implants last as long as possible, you should:
- Stick to a good oral hygiene routine.
- Manage your overall health.
- Wear a mouthguard when necessary to reduce the risk of oral injuries.
- Visit our team regularly for cleanings and checkups.
Are Dental Implants Safe?
Dental implants are a very low-risk treatment.
- Implants are usually made of medical-grade titanium alloy, which tends to work well within the human body. Adverse reactions to it are very rare.
- We carefully plan the placement surgery to minimize risks.
- If you take good care of your mouth and overall health, there is a good chance that your implants will be successful and serve you well for many years.
If you have any risk factors that may increase your risk of complications, our team will talk to you about these issues so you can take appropriate action to manage them.
