Dental implants are revered as the gold standard in tooth replacement, reinvigorating your smile, oral health and dental function.
Dental Implants: The Benefits
- Fixed solution to tooth loss (implants are placed into the jaw).
- Allow for stable chewing (no matter what types of foods you eat).
- Robust alternative to dentures and bridges.
- Protect against jawbone atrophy.
- Prevent remaining teeth from moving into vacant gaps in your smile.
- Improve the appearance of the cheek area by filling out your facial structure.
- Behave like real tooth roots once implanted into the jaw.
Tell Me More About Dental Implants
Dental implants are arguably the most remarkable dental restoration available. Made from biocompatible titanium, they replace the entirety of a tooth root and sit within the jawbone.
Dental implants are placed under local anaesthetic and take a period of a few weeks to fully integrate with your jawbone. Once the jawbone has grown around them, they behave just like real teeth, and a crown is placed over the top, acting as the exposed area of the tooth that enables you to break down foods and smile.
Immediate Tooth Replacement
Do you require new teeth in a day? If you are about to lose a tooth, we can arrange to have it removed and the placement of an implant during the same visit, so that nobody will ever know what happened. Immediate implant placement is possible if there is no infection and you have sufficient bone.
Single Tooth Replacement
If only one tooth is missing, a single dental implant is the best method of tooth replacement. It will not damage adjacent teeth as with a bridge or denture. It will maintain the positions of the remaining teeth by preventing them from moving into the space. It will also preserve the bone and help to maintain the gum architecture around your teeth, which will allow for superior aesthetic results compared to other forms of treatment.
Multiple Tooth Replacements
If more than one tooth has been lost, it is possible to have two or more implants adjacent to each other. It is also possible to have implants joined together with a bridge, so that you do not need an individual implant per tooth.
This procedure can be much more cost-effective than individual implant replacements, and as the implants join together as a fixed bridge, less surgery is involved. This means minimal cutting of the gums and quicker healing!
Full Arch Dental Implants and All-on-4 Dental Implants or ‘Same Day Teeth’
If you have lost all your teeth, we can provide dental implants to support or anchor a fixed, stable, permanent, aesthetic bridge. The number of dental implants required to support a full arch bridge will depend on the anatomy of the jawbone, the number of teeth required, the type of bridge you need and the opposing teeth. A full arch of dental implants can be placed when the teeth have been missing for a long time or when the remaining teeth have failed and require removal. In the latter case, it can even be arranged to have the remaining teeth removed and the implants placed on the same day.
Implant Retained Dentures or Dental Implant Removable Bridges
Occasionally, for some patients, for example, where there is a history of aggressive gum disease, it may be wise to consider a removable bridge supported by dental implants. A removable bridge will be easier to keep clean and also allows for easier future monitoring and maintenance of the implants.
The All-on-4 treatment is a carefully planned procedure that allows only four dental implants to be placed on the same day and for them to be immediately loaded with a full arch bridge or prosthesis, allowing for 10, 12 or 14 teeth. Two implants are placed at the front of the mouth, and two are placed at an angle slightly further back to allow for anchorage, as well as avoiding important structures such as nerves and sinuses. This can be done on both upper and lower jaws, and so allows full mouth rehabilitation in a day.
Treatment Steps
Consultation
A full consultation will include an examination of your teeth & gums and x-rays if necessary. Your dentist will explain the process to you and either refer you to our in-house dental surgeon or an out-of-practice dentist for the surgical placement of your implant. We partner only with reputable referral dental practices in Hove that share our values of excellence, so you will be in fantastic hands throughout every stage of your treatment.
Implant placement
Your implant is placed under local anaesthetic either in-house or at our partner referral dental practice. They will keep us fully up to date with your progress. Once your implant has been checked to ensure it has integrated with your jawbone, we will invite you to come in for an appointment to have your implant crown placed with us.
Crown placement
Your bespoke crown is screwed into the dental implant. It is a fixed restoration that you will not need to remove to clean. Simply brush and floss it as you would your natural teeth.
