Treatment
Dental implants
A replacement root, and a tooth that behaves like the one you lost.
What it is
An implant is a titanium root placed into the jaw, left to fuse for a few months, and then fitted with a crown. It does not rely on the teeth either side of it, which is the reason we usually prefer it to a bridge — a bridge means cutting down two healthy teeth to replace one missing one.
The part that takes time is the fusing, not the surgery. Placement is under local anaesthetic and takes about an hour. Most people go back to work the following day and describe it afterwards as less unpleasant than they expected.
Bone matters more than anything else here. If the site has lost height we will say so at the planning stage and price the graft in, rather than discovering it halfway through.
Suited to
- A single missing tooth, where the neighbours are healthy
- Several gaps that would otherwise need a partial denture
- A failing bridge that has already been redone once
- A full arch, on four to six implants
And when it is not
Uncontrolled gum disease has to be treated first — an implant placed into an infected mouth fails, and we will not place one until that is resolved. Heavy smoking roughly doubles the failure rate and we will tell you the real number for your situation before you decide.
Step by step
How it goes.
Scan and plan
A CBCT scan of the site, so the placement is planned in software before anything is done in the chair.
Placement
About an hour under local anaesthetic. A temporary tooth goes on the same day where the site allows it.
Healing
Three to four months while the bone fuses to the implant. Two short reviews in that window.
The crown
Scanned, made, and fitted. This is the appointment where it stops feeling like treatment and starts being a tooth.