Dental Implants

Dental Implant Treatments

Dental implants are amazingly natural looking replacements that feel as strong and comfortable as your own teeth. As well as restoring your normal appearance, dental implants make eating and speaking much easier than dentures.

Dental implants are anchored permanently into the jaw, replacing the tooth’s own root – just like natural teeth. The implant itself is a titanium post inserted into the gum. Left in place for two to eight months, the bone around the implant gradually grows and bonds with the implant, holding it securely in place.

Once in position, an implant can hold a single replacement tooth, a bridge or a denture with several replacement teeth. And the real benefit is that they are virtually indistinguishable from your own teeth, which means you can enjoy an attractive and natural looking smile once more.

Your journey to having a dental implant consists of 3 main stages, diagnosis and treatment planning, the surgery and the final fit of your dental implant abutment / restoration. In addition as usual review appointments together with regular dental hygiene should be instituted to care for your dental implants.

The diagnosis and treatment plan is one of the most important stages of dental implants. Here one of our dental implant surgeons in Dulwich, London will take a detailed history, assessing how you came about to have a gap. Trauma, loss by dental caries, smoking related bone resorption all have an impact on how we go about your treatment. A three dimensional CT imaging scan of your jaws or a OPG may be taken, which will show the horizontal and vertical dimensions of your remaining bone. If you have insufficient bone we may have to undertake a bone graft using either allogenic or autogenic bone material. Our dental implant surgeons will manually feel the ridge to assess your soft tissue. This is often a simple measure to assess how fibrous your tissue is, and how we will manage your soft tissues in order for you to attain the best aesthetic result. If you have more than one gap we will assess how many implants you need, as the number of implants below the gum do not always correlate with the number of teeth that need replacing. For example if you have 6 teeth missing you may only need 2 implants and an implant supported bridge, alternatively you may need more or less. Our dental implant surgeons will discuss this with you to get the best result with the least invasive surgery. You will be given a treatment plan together with a costing estimate and we will arrange a date for your dental implant surgery.

On your implant surgery day, our team will be ready for you having set up the dental surgery for a completely aseptic procedure. Our surgical team is highly trained to ensure every part of the surgical environment is sterile.

If needed we may give you antibiotics, and pre-emptive pain medication before your surgery. Our dental implant surgeon will personally undertake all your treatment, firstly going through the treatment plan again, then anaesthetising the area concerned. A minimal incision is made and the soft tissue retracted to expose the bony ridge. We would have planned the exact position of your dental implant and will place it either directly using landmarks or with the assistance of a surgical guide which is normally made in a dental laboratory prior to your dental implant procedure. There are a host of adjunctive procedures that may be needed to ensure the dental implant integrates well supported by the bone. A bone graft is where we use allogenic or autogenic bone to augment your ridge. A sinus lift is where the floor of the maxillary sinus is raised to allow space for the dental implant, where your bone may have resorbed leaving insufficient space for a dental implant.

Once we have achieved stability of the dental implant, soft tissue closure will be done using various techniques ensuring closure is tension free and adequate. In some cases soft tissue grafting may be undertaken where there is insufficient soft tissue for closure or where it would be of aesthetic benefit.

At the end of your surgery we may take a radiograph to check the final position of your dental implant, and you will then be discharged. Over the next few weeks the apposition of bone to the highly specialised implant surface, increases and further stability is achieved.

At your next appointment we will then fit the final implant restoration. This will be laboratory made if ceramic, extremely aesthetic and resilient. The healing cap of the dental implant is removed, and the abutment placed. We will check that your bite is not altered unless your dental implants are part of a wider reconstruction to reorganise your bite. The main stages of your dental implant are now complete and you can look forwards to the most advanced and natural replacement of missing teeth to date.

Dental implants are anchored permanently into the jaw, replacing the tooth’s own root – just like natural teeth. The implant itself is a titanium post inserted into the gum. Left in place for two to eight months, the bone around the implant gradually grows and bonds with the implant, holding it securely in place.

Once in position, an implant can hold a single replacement tooth, a bridge or a denture with several replacement teeth. And the real benefit is that they are virtually indistinguishable from your own teeth, which means you can enjoy an attractive and natural looking smile once more.