Dental Implants

Replacing Missing Teeth With Dental Implants

Tooth loss is a celebrated event during childhood, but losing teeth as an adult can be devastating. Not only will you suffer the cosmetic embarrassment of a gapped smile, but you will also develop numerous problems with your oral health if you do not replace the missing teeth. Biting and chewing food will become more difficult, and your remaining teeth will start to shift out of place because tooth loss creates extra room for them to do so. Your bone health will also suffer because tooth roots provide stimulation to the jawbone to keep it dense and strong. Once the body stops receiving signals from the area of the jawbone where a tooth is missing, the bone will deteriorate and give your face an aged, sunken appearance. Fortunately, dental implants can prevent all of these issues.

How Dental Implants Work?

A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that is usually constructed from titanium, a biocompatible material that has been used for decades in hip and knee replacement surgeries. The implant is inserted into the jawbone, and the bone fuses with its rough surface in a process called “osseointegration.” Once the artificial tooth root is anchored into the jawbone, a tooth restoration is attached to the abutment, which is the part of the implant that extends from the top of the gums.

Implants Can be Used to Replace One or More Teeth:

Single Tooth: In this simple procedure, a single implant is placed at the site of a lost tooth and is affixed with a porcelain crown.

Implant Bridge: A traditional bridge is attached by placing crowns on the healthy teeth on either side of the empty tooth sockets, but an implant bridge uses two or more titanium implants to anchor the restoration in place.

Full Arch Missing Teeth: In cases where several or all teeth are missing, a few strategically placed titanium implants can hold a full or partial denture in place and even a fixed full moth prosthesis.

Candidacy for Dental Implants

In general, most people who are healthy enough to undergo a dental procedure such as a filling placement or root canal therapy are good candidates for dental implants. You must have healthy teeth and gums, so any cavities or signs of periodontal disease must be addressed first. Tell your dentist if you have any chronic health conditions or are taking medications. These factors will not necessarily prevent you from receiving implants, but your dentist may need to take certain precautions during the procedure to ensure its success. You also need to have a sufficient amount of dense bone tissue to support an implant. However, if you have suffered bone loss, which is common after tooth loss, a bone grafting procedure can help rebuild the tissues.

Advantages of Dental Implants

While other tooth replacement methods are still in use today, dental implants are the gold standard for a reason. Dentures are designed to stay in place with suction or by attaching to your remaining teeth with clasps. While they may fit perfectly when you first receive them, the natural bone loss that occurs with missing teeth can make them lose their fit over time, causing patients to experience embarrassing slippage on a regular basis. Bridges are another common tooth replacement option, but they require the reduction of healthy tooth structure for crown placement. Implants do not pose any of these issues. Because your new restorations are permanently anchored into your mouth, you can enjoy speaking and eating without worrying about your teeth slipping out of place. In addition to helping you maintain the healthy structure of your remaining teeth; they look and feel just like your natural teeth and stimulate your jawbone to help preserve a youthful facial appearance.

At Dr. Raed M. Abutteen Dental Center

our specialist dental implantologist will guide you to the best option available replacing your missing tooth/teeth. Following a comprehensive clinical examination and radiographic 3 dimensional imaging, computer guided implant planning/execution is discussed with you. We believe that you deserve the best treatment and accordingly we only use branded implants with scientifically proven long-term success and survival rates.

Guided Dental Implant Surgery with Cone Beam CT (CBCT)

At Dr. Raed M. Abutteen Dental Center, we employ the latest technology related to dental implant surgery. We are able to get cross-sectional images immediately with our on-site Cone Beam Computerized Tomography (CBCT) scanner which delivers high clarity with significantly less radiation than conventional scanners. These pictures can provide renderings of both soft and hard tissues in the body which then can be examined in detail using computer software.

This means that we can examine, diagnose and plan treatment with a level of precision not possible in the past. With this dental imaging, we can view:

Shape, thickness, and height of the jawbone structure that would determine if bone grafting for dental implants is necessary
Location of nerves and sinuses
Proximity of adjacent teeth, roots, and other anatomical structures
Gum tissue thickness

Virtual Guided Dental Implant Surgery

Using all of the data provided by the software, the surgeon performs a virtual surgery on a computer model of the patient’s teeth and jaw. The exact size of the dental implants and their position are determined during the virtual surgery on the digital model. Any procedures required to prepare the site for implants can be performed “virtually” on the computer using the dental cone beam tomography. This software is accurate within a tenth of a millimeter and shows the implant in its ideal position.

Precise implant placement is critical in order to provide the patient the most esthetic and functional form of tooth replacement. The abutment can also be digitally superimposed to predict the space needed for the forthcoming crown implant suprastructure. This also means fewer complications, less invasive therapy, and quicker healing times for the patient.

In some cases, a surgical guide based on the x-ray imaging result is fabricated by the dental lab prior to treatment. This customized guide “surgical guide” allows the surgeon to sometimes perform the procedure without any incisions at all with less invasive treatment and comfort for the patient and quicker healing times.

The Academy of Osseointegration now considers dental cone beam technology “the standard of care” for implant procedures. In fact, The American Board of Periodontology and American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons advises the use of exact imaging and surgical guides for dental implant placement.

Our CT scanner at Dr. Raed M. Abutteen Dental Center is with cutting edge detectors and x-ray technology. We can scan precisely where we need to, with the added benefit of low-dose capability for safer scanning for our patients. It provides advanced 3D treatment tools for implants and restorations, oral and maxillofacial surgery, TMJ and sinuses with high definition 3D diagnostic images for ultimate treatment efficiency.

Once a CT Scan is captured, a 3-dimensional view is created and implant placement is virtually planned with very high accuracy. All can be done within minutes of the scan. The data from our case planning is then replicated with great precision in the patient on the day of implant placement.

What to Expect During Guided Dental Implant Surgery

Once we have completely mapped out the guided dental implant surgery on a virtual basis, the dental implant treatment plan can ensue. Because all the assessments have been made prior to surgery, the implant procedure can be performed in a relatively short time period.

Depending on the number of implants the patient is receiving, single shot local anesthesia or at multiple sites will be used to make you comfortable during the in-office surgery. The surgical guide fabricated from the information digitally gathered fits precisely into the patient’s mouth, allowing the doctor to place the implants in the optimal position. The surgical guide also limits the depth of the drill and implant, making the procedure precise and safe.

Because the exact placement location is predetermined, usually no incision needs to be made in the gum tissue, making the process more comfortable and less invasive. Post-operative swelling and pain are minimized, and recovery time is shortened. In most cases, guided implant surgery can be completed in less than an hour, even with multiple implants involved.

In some cases, once the implants are placed, the abutments, as well as the crowns, can be integrated into the mouth immediately thanks to the digital pre-planning. Because so many aspects of the guided dental implant surgery can be done in advance, the entire process can now be completed in hours rather than months.

Benefits of Guided Dental Implant Surgery

Guided dental implant surgery is simplifying the dental implant treatment process, while employing the latest technology available, to make it faster, safer, and more comfortable. The benefits include; • Extremely precise due to 3D imaging and specialized software

Reduced surgery time
Minimized trauma to the hard and soft oral tissues
Less invasive (no incisions or sutures required)
Can eliminate the need for bone grafting or other periodontal procedures
Minimal risk
Less discomfort and faster recovery time
Efficient (implants, abutments, and crowns can be placed during one procedure)
High success rate

It should be noted however, that guided dental implant surgery can not be utilized on all dental implant patients. It is recommended often in cases involving:

Full mouth implant restoration
Significant jawbone loss
Extraction & immediate implantation
Cases with high aesthetic challenges

Guided dental implant surgery is revolutionizing the dental implant process. Patients who were formerly not considered to be good candidates for dental implants or who could not spend months undergoing treatment are having their lives transformed with new, beautiful, functioning teeth.

If you are interested in finding out if guided dental implant surgery is right for you, or if you would like more information on the process, please do not hesitate to visit Dr. Raed M. Abutteen Dental Center and get the care you have been looking for.