Introduction
If you are a resident of Kariong in the Central Coast region of New South Wales and you are in need of affordable dental implants, this blog post on dental implants is for you.
It may be hard to know exactly how many people in Australia suffer from tooth loss. However, what we do know is that the vast majority of people suffering from tooth loss have this problem mainly as a result of…
- injury,
- periodontal disease, or
- tooth decay.
Back in the day, the only way you could deal with tooth loss was by getting removable dentures and bridges. But today that has all changed with dental implants.
So what exactly are dental implants anyway?
Well, dental implants as the name suggests are basically teeth roots which are used where teeth are missing. The dental implants help to provide a solid base for the fitting of synthetic teeth that are either removable or permanent in nature.
Are Dental Implants for Everyone?
For anyone to be considered suitable for dental implants, the person must be healthy. Typically, anyone deemed suitable for oral surgery or a simple dental extraction routine would qualify for dental implants.
In addition, to qualify for dental implants, patients need to have sufficient jaw bone to keep the implant in place. Their gums also need to be pretty healthy as well.
For those with underlying health conditions like congenital heart disease, diabetes, or cancer, a personal evaluation is needed before they can be considered for dental implants.
Dentist Gosford At Kariong Dental, we conduct a case by case evaluation to qualify individuals for dental implants.
How are Dental Implants done?
#1: Personalized Plan: No two individuals are the same when it comes to dental implants. Therefore a personalized treatment plan needs to be developed on a case by case basis.
#2: Implantation of the Tooth Root: Once a plan has been developed for a patient, he/she is scheduled for a tooth root implantation. The tooth root is made from titanium and this small post is inserted in the missing tooth’s bone socket.
The jawbone will eventually heal (within 6 to 12 weeks) and as it heals it will grow to surround the titanium post. The tooth root would then be firmly rooted in the patient’s jaw.
#3: Attaching the Abutment: After the small titanium post has firmly bonded with the jawbone, it is then time to attach an abutment to the post. The abutment itself is a connector post that is attached to the implanted tooth root, it is the abutment that will securely hold up the newly fitted tooth/teeth as the case may be.
#4: Creating Synthetic Crowns: Synthetic teeth or crowns are created before they can be inserted into the abutment. To create a crown, an impression of the missing tooth or teeth needs to be made. A bite model is done and this vividly captures your teeth arrangement amongst other features.
The model is used in creating the new crown or crowns. Everything from the shape of your new crowns to their colour will be sorted out before they are attached to the abutment. At the end of the day your replacement crowns will function, feel, and look like perfectly normal, healthy teeth.
It is also possible to use special attachments on the tooth root implants in order to maintain dentures that are removable. Note that once dental implants are done you have to make regular visits to your dentist and also maintain excellent oral hygiene.
