What Is A Dental Implant?

If you’re missing a tooth and that gap is causing you to have a lack of confidence in your smile, then you’d presumably be interested in looking at ways to get that tooth replaced. Whether you lost a single tooth to dental problems, or you had a row of teeth knocked out via accident or injury, dental implants could be the solution.

Recognised as the most natural-looking and natural-feeling type of permanent tooth prosthesis, a dental implant is inserted into your jaw to provide you with a tooth replacement that will restore your smile to its former glory and give you the means to help you chew your food.

Having a dental implant fitted in York

Like a tooth, a dental implant consists of a root and a crown. The root is made of titanium and is placed into your jaw by an experienced implantologist. A period of healing follows, during which time the implant root should fuse with the jawbone, giving you a strong anchor to keep it in place. A temporary crown, which is custom-made to fit your unique teeth and is colour-matched to them, is added in the first instance.

Local anaesthetic will be applied to the area before you have the dental implant fitted and if you want to have sedation as well, you can. Here at our York dental practice, we want you to be as comfortable as possible during the procedure and the healing period. By the way, don’t be put off by what sounds like a long healing period. The implant shouldn’t be painful during the healing months but rather a time delay is required in order for the root and jawbone fusion to take place.

Once the healing period is over and the implant is secure, a permanent crown will be added, via a connecting abutment. Dental implants are hardwearing and long-lasting with many customer implants still functioning well after 30 years.

Dental implant supported dentures in York

Traditional dentures are removable. They are often held in place by clips and through suction. Dentures that are held in place by dental implants should be much more secure. You should be far less likely to experience your dentures flying unexpectedly out of your mouth and notice less denture movement when you chew food.

Bridges, which bridge a gap in your mouth and fill that space with artificial teeth, and are held in place with implants, should last longer, feel more comfortable and eliminate the need to have adjacent teeth ground down to have the bridge fitted.

If you’d like to find out more about dental implant procedure and how your smile could look with an implant, or multiple implants and bridges fitted, please give us a call here at our York practice to book a consultation with our highly trained implantologist. We’ll be happy to go over every step of the treatment with you, as well as assess your mouth for suitability. Please get in touch.