How Fast Can I Get A Dental Implant?
First of all, while many dentists take weekend courses to place dental implants, you can be assured skilled, experienced periodontist like Dr. Kenzik to install dental implants since it takes years of education and training to prepare to properly perform this kind of procedure.
Next, understand you will need to set up an initial interview and have a periodontal exam to determine the state of your mouth. You need sufficient bone mass to support an implant and sufficient gum tissue to encase it. And you have to cure any periodontal disease that may exist before you can qualify for same-day implants.
The implant surgery itself, with Teeth Express, can take as little as an hour or two per implant root installed. You can reasonably get two or three implants in one sitting, but more than that should probably be done in stages.
A temporary crown will be placed over the implant root because you have to wait for the implant to fuse to the underlying jawbone (which takes up to a few weeks) before a permanent crown can be placed. You will need to go easy on the implant until it fully heals, and you may need a few follow up visits to track the progress of the healing and bone-to-implant fusion, but the implant root itself can be installed in a single day.
How Does The Implant Process Work?
After the exam reveals you are safe to go ahead with same-day implants, and the day of your appointment arrives, you’ll be amazed at how fast things go.
Some local anesthetic (and possibly dental sedation as well) will be administered. Your periodontist will begin by making a socket through your gum tissue where the missing tooth used to be. He may or may not also extend that socket into the jawbone a little, depending on which type of implant is being used.
Some implants sit on the bone, others are lodged a little down into it, but both types fuse firmly and allow you full use of your new tooth.
Supportive posts may also be installed, along with the temporary crown, to hold it in position. Crowns can be made quickly in the dental lab these days, also same-day in many cases; but it’s possible the lab will already be working on it after the initial interview and exam, if X-rays were taken then.
Your periodontist may also give you some special mouth rinse and some detailed instructions on how to guard your implant during the healing process. But for the most part, you simply avoid putting much pressure on it or brushing it for the time being. Ultimately, when all is complete, you can treat your implant-crown unit just like an ordinary tooth.
To learn more about Teeth Express or about dental implants in general, contact Dr. Raymond Kenzik in Ormond Beach, FL, today!