Comprehensive Dental Care: From Implant Surgery to Restoration for Your Perfect Smile!
Few treatments to restore a confident, healthy smile are quite as transformative as dental implants. When patients arrive at our office in Cooper City, Florida, they may have gaps in their smile that interfere with enjoyable eating and speech. These gaps also take an emotional toll, as the smile is such a visible facial feature.
With full implant services performed by Drs. Alejandro Piedra and Robert Weishoff, these patients enjoy many different foods again without difficulty and pain. They speak confidently and clearly and smile proudly, without holding back. And you can benefit from these services at Piedra Dental Group, too!
Dental implants are titanium roots, that are replaced with in the jawbone to resemble a tooth or group of teeth. A screw is inserted through the gums and into the jawbone. A porcelain crown is then attached to the screw to become the new tooth or teeth. They can be used to support dental prosthesis including crowns, dentures, and bridges. Today’s treatments are so natural looking, no one will know you had surgery. There’s approximately a 95% success rate for all implants. With modern advances in dentistry, some implants can be restored immediately with life like all porcelain crowns. For more details ask your dentist.
How do implants replace teeth?
Implants are different from other types of tooth replacement, such as bridges and dentures. They are the closest thing that we have to natural teeth. This is because of their unique design, which consists of:
- The implant – A cylindrical-shaped post, each implant is surgically placed in the jawbone by either Dr. Piedra or Dr. Weishoff. The implant is made from a special material that naturally fuses or grows with the surrounding bone. Once it has healed or grown with the bone, the implant functions like a tooth root.
- The abutment—There are different types of abutments, but these are largely connector pieces that join the implant (artificial tooth root) to the replacement tooth. The abutment may be connected and placed at the same time as the implant or later (as either a one-stage surgery or a two-stage surgery).
- The replacement tooth—When a single tooth is missing, a dental implant is restored with a dental crown. The implant supports the crown in the jawbone. This design provides unmatched stability to the crown/tooth attached to the implant and many other advantages over alternative methods of replacing teeth.
What if I need to replace more than one tooth?
Dental implants offer a versatile solution for tooth replacement. If you need to replace two or more teeth, consider options like an implant-supported bridge or denture. Depending on the location of the missing teeth, we might also place crowns to restore and replace scattered implants.
When the missing teeth are adjacent to one another, an implant-supported bridge is often a suitable choice. Remarkably, we can use a minimal number of implants to replace multiple teeth—just four to six implants can support either an upper or lower denture. Thanks to our dentists’ precision placement techniques, it is possible to replace all missing teeth in the upper or lower jaw using minimal implants.
What are the advantages of implant-supported crowns, bridges, and dentures?
Implant-supported restorations mimic the structure of natural teeth, making them look and feel authentic. Because these replacement teeth are anchored to the jawbone, they remain securely in place, unlike traditional dentures, which can shift in the mouth. This secure fit enhances chewing and speech functions while also preventing or halting the harmful effects of bone loss.
What is bone loss?
Bone loss is a process that occurs when teeth are lost. The bone gradually shrinks. Think of this process as similar to how your muscles shrink during periods of inactivity. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Jawbone resorption can cause great difficulty when chewing food and other functions. It can also “age” you, as your face loses its structural support and effectively “collapses.” With implant teeth, the jawbone remains healthy and strong—the bone benefits from the activity of the attached teeth. Cosmetic and functional complications are avoided, or we can stop further bone loss. Due to these unique features, implant teeth can also last the rest of your life as long as you care for them well.
Dental implants may be restored but not placed at various dental offices in and around Cooper City, FL. However, at Piedra Dental Group, our dentists handle the entire process! We look forward to discussing this exciting advancement in tooth replacement during your consultation. Call us at (954) 329-0673 to schedule your visit today.
