Dental implants are the next best thing to natural teeth. If you are missing teeth or plan to replace one or more teeth in the near future, then you should consider getting dental implants.
An implant is a small metal post that is placed in the bone where your tooth used to be. The implant is hidden beneath the gums and bone, and it supports a dental restoration like a crown to fill in the gap in your smile.
The decision to get a dental implant is a life-changing one, so it’s not the kind of decision you can make lightly. On this page, we’re sharing everything you need to know to make a wise decision about your treatment.
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Why You Should Consider Getting Dental Implants
Dental implants do much more than just fill in the gaps in your smile to make it look better. Replacing lost teeth with implants can help you preserve the health of your remaining teeth by preventing them from shifting out of alignment. But other tooth replacement options can do the same thing. So why should you consider getting implants?
Natural tooth roots play an important role in the shape of your face because they stimulate the production of healthy bone tissue in your jaw. As long as you have teeth in your jaw, your smile will remain the same height. Once teeth are lost, however, the bone where the tooth used to be is no longer needed. Your body breaks it down in a natural process called bone resorption. This loss of bone causes your jawbone to become thin. If you lose all the teeth in your jaw, then the height of your smile will shrink. Eventually, your smile can shrink so much that you’ll start to experience sagging cheeks, a sunken chin, and wrinkles around your mouth.
Dental implants can help you maintain the height and shape of your smile by preventing bone resorption. Just like natural tooth roots, the metal screws of implants stimulate the bone in your jaw to stop it from shrinking away, and this can help you preserve the shape of your smile for the rest of your life.
The Benefits of Dental Implants
If you’re missing one or more teeth, then you know just how painfully embarrassing it can be to smile around other people. Gaps in your smile can make you feel self-conscious about your appearance, and missing teeth can even affect your diet, restricting you to only foods that you can comfortably chew.
By replacing those teeth with dental implants, you’ll get to enjoy the following benefits:
- Create a beautiful new look – Getting implants is your chance to create the perfect smile. Implants can last for a very long time, and the restorations are custom-designed to look natural.
- Enjoy a stable bite – Dental implants will help you have a secure bite that lets you laugh and smile and eat free from the worry that your false teeth will fall out or chafe your gums. No matter which restoration you get on your implant, you can be completely confident that it isn’t going anywhere. You can even get implants to help hold a denture in place.
- Preserve the bone in your jaw – As discussed above, dental implants can prevent the bone resorption that happens when teeth are not replaced. With proper care, dental implants can help you keep your smile looking and feeling great for a lifetime.
With proper care, dental implants can help you enjoy a beautiful and comfortable smile for a lifetime.
Dental Implant Restorations
A restoration is the part of your implant that’s visible when you smile. It covers your implant, fills in the gap between your teeth, and gives you a tooth you can bite on.
Most dental implants are single tooth replacements, but others can support a restoration that replaces multiple teeth in a row.
- Dental Crown – A crown covers a single-tooth dental implant and makes it look like a brand-new tooth that blends in with the rest of your teeth.
- Dental Bridge – If you are missing several teeth in a row, then a bridge supported by one or two implants can complete your smile. You can even replace all the teeth on the upper or lower half of your mouth with a full-arch implant-supported bridge that rests on four or more implants.
- Implant Denture – You can get two dental implants to give your denture added security. You’ll be able to secure your denture by snapping it onto your implants when you put it in.
Your New Life With Dental Implants
Getting dental implants could change your life for the better. But what is it like to have implants?
You’ll take care of your implant the same way you take care of your natural teeth: brush and floss daily and visit your dentist for regular checkups. Take extra care to protect your implant when playing sports by wearing a mouth guard.
As long as you keep your mouth healthy, your implant could stay with you for the rest of your life.
How It Feels to Get a Dental Implant
You might be surprised at how easy it is to get an implant. The surgery doesn’t sound pleasant, but it’s actually a very conservative and safe procedure, and it’s all done under local anesthetic so that you don’t feel anything.
Additionally, we use the latest dental implant technology to plan your treatment and place your implant. These modern dental implant treatment techniques can help you enjoy a fast, comfortable, and successful procedure and a short healing period with less downtime. In fact, dental implants have a success rate of over 95%, making implant surgery one of the most predictable treatments in dentistry.
The most difficult part of implant surgery for most people is simply having to hold their mouth open for a few minutes at a time, just like during any other dental treatment.
After your surgery, you may experience a little bit of swelling, bruising, and post-operative discomfort. This is perfectly normal, and we will explain what you can do to start reducing these effects before the anaesthetic wears off. Within a week after your surgery, the surgical site should start feeling much better.
Your Dental Implant Treatment Journey
Here’s what to expect during your implant treatment experience at our Allentown dental practice:
Assessment
A comprehensive dental examination is the first step. We will take X-rays and a three-dimensional CT scan of your jaw to evaluate your mouth and find out if dental implants are right for you. After we go over your treatment plan with you, we’ll start planning your surgery.
Implant Placement
On the day of your surgery, the dentist will administer an injection of local anaesthesia to ensure that the treatment site is numb. Next, the dentist will open up the gums and then drill a small hole in the bone underneath. Then, after carefully placing the implant into the hole, the dentist will close up the gums around the implant so that it can begin healing.
Restoration
You’ll need to let your implant heal for a few months before you can begin using it. In the meantime, we’ll be designing your restoration. Once your implant has successfully healed with the bone in your mouth, we will attach the restoration to your implant, and your new tooth will be ready.
Contact Us Today
to schedule an implant consultation & exam.
The very first step in any dental implant journey is the initial consultation. We will carefully examine your teeth, gums, and the fit of your bite to determine whether implants are right for you. We’ll also use this opportunity to talk with you about your goals for your dental health and smile aesthetics and discover how implants can help you.
Cost of Dental Implants in Allentown
Here in Allentown, a single implant may cost you anywhere from $1,600 – $4,200, or even more depending on the parts needed. Full-mouth restoration with dental implants can cost around $60,000 or more.
We can only provide you with rough estimates here on our site or over the phone. The only way to give you a quote of the total cost of your implant treatment is to visit our practice so that we can evaluate your smile. Dental implant treatment, although safe, is quite complex with a lot of varying factors that can affect the final price.
Here are some of the factors that can determine the cost of your dental implant treatment:
- The type of implants you need
- How many implants you need
- The materials and supplies we need to use for your unique treatment
- The location in your mouth where the implant is going to be placed
- Your overall health
- The health of your mouth
- The amount of bone you have in your jaw
- The type of dental restoration you need for your implant
- How long it takes you to recover and heal after getting an implant
The only way we can figure out how these factors will impact your total treatment cost is by examining your teeth in person. Contact us if you would like to book a consultation where we can provide you with an accurate quote for dental implant treatment.
What are your other options for replacing teeth?
If you need to replace just one tooth, you could opt to get either a fixed dental bridge or a removable partial denture. Both solutions rely on your remaining natural teeth for support, and both need to be replaced at regular intervals after a few years of wear-and-tear.
If you are missing many or all of the teeth on either the lower or upper half of your mouth, then you might choose to get a full removable denture. Upper dentures tend to stay in place fairly well, provided they have a snug fit. They stay in place because they create a suction seal with your palate. But lower dentures can be more problematic as they depend on gravity to keep them in place. Lower dentures can thus be quite loose and insecure, and you may need a denture adhesive to keep them in place. Like partial dentures and dental bridges, you will probably need to have your denture remade more than once throughout your life.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, your secret is safe with us! No one would even guess that you have dental implants unless you tell them. Dental implants are securely attached to your mouth, so there is no chance that they’ll fall out, and they are covered with beautiful restorations that make them look perfectly natural.
Dentures and implants serve different functions, so which restoration is best for you depends on the kind of results you want to achieve. For example, getting dentures doesn’t require surgery, but getting implants could be a better investment as it’s generally a once-in-a-lifetime treatment and because implants can prevent bone loss. We recommend scheduling a consultation with us to help you find out which treatment is right for you.
If there’s any reason you can’t get dental implants, then a dental bridge or a denture could be a suitable alternative for you. Call us to book an appointment where we will review all of your treatment options and help you figure out which one is best for you.
Anyone who’s interested in dental implants should first check with a dentist to make sure they qualify. Generally, only adults aged 18 and over can get implants because the jawbone in teenagers is still undergoing crucial development. But other than that, there’s no age limit for getting implants.
Your mouth and jawbone should also be in good health before getting implants. If your gums show signs of gum disease or if the bone in your jaw is too weak for implants, then we can provide you with the treatment you need to get you ready for dental implants.
Absolutely! No matter which restoration you receive, we will make sure that it matches your smile perfectly for the most natural finish possible. Each dental implant restoration is custom-designed to ensure a perfect finish.
No, getting a dental implant in a modern dental office is not a painful experience. In our practice, we provide the treatment with local anaesthesia, and we use precise surgery-planning technology to keep your treatment as quick, conservative, and comfortable as possible. It’s normal to experience some discomfort in the hours after your surgery, but we’ll help you minimize it.
You could be ready to head back to work the next day after your dental implant surgery. Of course, this depends on how your appointment goes. If there’s any reason that we expect you could need more time to recover from your surgery, then we’ll let you know.
Generally, one routine dental checkup every six months is recommended both for people with dental implants and for those with all natural teeth. Implants need the same amount of care and cleaning that regular teeth do. But we may recommend coming in for more frequent checkups if your individual dental health situation merits it.
Simply take care of your dental implants just like you do for your natural teeth. Brush and floss daily, visit us for a checkup once every six months, protect your implant from injury, and let us know if you have any issues with your implant.
No. The beauty of dental implants is that they can stay with you for life, provided you take good care of them.
