People who have teeth that are crowded, cracked, missing or discolored can avail themselves of dental implants. Implants installed by a skilled dentist such as those at TeethXpress allow teeth to perform their tasks of smiling and helping a person eat and speak properly.
What is a Dental Implant?
A dental implant is a prosthetic. This is an artificial item meant to replace a body part. In this case, the dental implan Carrollton GA replaces a damaged or missing tooth. Dental implants can be made of several materials, including metal, porcelain or porcelain over metal.
What is the Dental Implant Procedure?
The dental implant procedure is a multi-step process that requires commitment on the part of the patient. During the first step, the patient visits the dentist, who takes X-rays of the damaged tooth and the rest of the patient’s mouth. Then, the tooth or teeth are removed, and the dentist places a post made of titanium or zirconium into the patient’s jaw and covers it with the patient’s gum. Titanium and zirconium are used because they fuse very well with the bone tissue. However, this can take many weeks to happen.
Sometimes the dentist gives the patient a temporary implant if the treatment is being done on the front teeth. In the meantime, a dental lab creates the prosthetic tooth or teeth.
While the patient waits for the post to fuse into the jawbone, they must be especially careful with regards to their dental hygiene. They will need to visit the dentist at lest once to make sure that the post and bone are fusing properly.
When the dentist sees that the post and bone are fused, they open up the gum, and add an anchor to the post. When the gum heals, the prosthetic tooth is placed on this anchor.
Conclusion
Dental implants restore the smiles of people who do not want dentures or bridges and are willing to be patient during the stages of the implant process. Teeth can be made so lifelike that only the patient and dentist know that they’re artificial.