Dental Implants – Dedham, MA

What Are Dental Implants?

Dental implants are made up of a biocompatible post, a metal abutment, and some type of restoration (i.e., a crown, bridge, or denture). The post is shaped like a screw and typically made of titanium; if it’s inserted into the jaw, it will fuse with the surrounding bone tissue just like the root of a real tooth. The restoration will be attached to the post via the abutment. Together, these three pieces offer the most complete form of tooth replacement, replicating the root structure of the tooth along with the crown.

 

The 4-Step Dental Implant Process

During our start-to-finish in-house dental implant process, you’ll follow these four broad steps:

• Step one is the initial consultation, where we confirm that you can have implants placed as well as put together a treatment plan. Sometimes, bone grafts and other procedures need to be performed before we can move on to the next step.
• Step two is implant surgery. The gums are opened to grant access to the jawbone, and the posts are placed in the areas where they can give your final restoration the best support.
• Step three is osseointegration, a natural process where the implant fuses with the jawbone. We can attach an abutment to the post once osseointegration is complete.
• Step four is designing and delivering the final restoration. Each restoration is personalized depending on how many teeth are missing as well as the shape, size, and color of your natural teeth.

Benefits of Dental Implants

• Implants integrate directly with the bone tissue, allowing them to continuously stimulate the jaw and prevent bone loss.
• Unlike dentures that rest on the gums, dental implants don’t slip or move around in your mouth.
• You can eat whatever you want with your dental implants once they’ve been restored.
• Dental implants have a very high success rate that falls between 95% and 98%.
• Dental implants can last anywhere between 25 years and a lifetime as long as they receive proper maintenance.

 

Who Dental Implants Can Help

As long as you are an adult, have a jawbone strong enough to support implants, are in good oral health, and need to replace at least one tooth, you can be considered for dental implants. Even patients who aren’t currently implant candidates may eventually be able to have the procedure done once they receive bone grafts or complete other preliminary treatments. Below are examples of how dental implants can be used to replace any number of teeth.

Missing Single Tooth

A single implant will be placed in the gap where the missing tooth used to be, and once the mouth is done healing, a crown will be connected to it via the abutment. Implant crowns are more conservative than dental bridges that can only be placed after removing a small amount of enamel from the remaining teeth.

Missing Multiple Teeth

A dental bridge can be set on a pair of dental implants in order to replace three or more teeth in a row while staying firmly in place at all times. In cases where there are missing teeth in different areas of the mouth, we may suggest other options, like partial dentures attached to several implant posts.

Missing All of Your Teeth

While the idea of replacing all teeth with dental implants may be somewhat intimidating at first, an entire row of teeth can be replaced with just four to six implants and a full denture. Generally, implant dentures are fixed in place at all times, but they can be made removable based on your preferences or your needs.

 

Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants

The amount you end up paying for dental implants can change depending on your situation. We will need to confirm the number of implants needed, the type of restoration to be used, the need for preliminary treatments, and other factors before we can arrive at any kind of price. The final cost will likely be higher than what you might see for other forms of tooth replacement, but that will be balanced out in the long term by the fact that dental implants can last for decades without needing to be replaced.