Dental Implants
A fixed predictable solution for missing teeth
Losing your teeth can have a significant impact on your life, affecting your self-confidence, your speech and how you eat. A dental implant is a biocompatible titanium post which acts just like a tooth root to support natural-looking replacement teeth and offers a long-lasting way to fill any gaps in your teeth.
Straumann Implants
Not all dental implants are of the same quality. To achieve the most successful results, we use Straumann implants – a trusted brand backed up by many years of clinical research. Here are just some of the benefits of this smile transforming product:
- extensively used across the globe
- innovative design using high grade materials
- reduced healing times allow for quicker treatment times
- the potential to last fifteen years or more on average
- made from a strong titanium alloy
What is the treatment process?
Step One
We assess your teeth and gums to ensure you are a suitable candidate for implants. We take digital x-rays or ct-scans to check if you have enough bone volume for the successful placement of implants. If you don’t, you may need sinus and/or graft procedures.
Step Two
After administering a local anaesthetic, we carefully place the implant in the jaw and, over a few weeks, this will integrate with the surrounding bone. The healing period can vary between individual patients and also depends on bone quality.
Step Three: Restorative phase
When fully healed the replacement teeth can be attached to the implant fixture using connecting screws. These will either be crowns or bridges, which stay securely in place, or dentures, which can be removed for cleaning.
What are the plus points?
- help to increase your confidence
- help you to eat and speak more effectively
- no need to remove any healthy tooth tissue
- preserve bone structure by preventing shrinkage
- easier to clean than other dental restorations
- avoids the need to wear ill-fitting dentures
What else do I need to know?
If you look after your implants properly and attend regular check-ups, dental implants can last for years. Our hygienist can provide implant maintenance treatment and give you advice on how to care for your implants, so they remain functional for as long as possible.
However, there are some lifestyle factors and health conditions that may increase the risk of implant failure such as smoking, drinking alcohol, gum disease, teeth grinding (bruxism) and diabetes. The average lifespan of dental implants is 10-15 years.
Cases
Before
After
Case 1
This 45 year old patient fractured his bridge and was treated at our practice with dental implants.
Before
After
Case 2
This 27 year old patient did not want to wear a denture and was treated at our practice with dental implants.