At Harley Street Dental Clinic, whether you need to replace a single missing tooth or row of teeth that have been lost due to wear or injury, getting dental implants is one of the best solutions to fix missing teeth, however, we also have patients who choose to replace teeth to get a better-looking smile even if those teeth are healthy. We know that dental implants in Harley Street involve some rather serious surgery and we would like to take this chance to explain it to you in detail so that you can make an informed decision when considering undergoing surgery.
If you want to change your existing teeth
Before the dental implants in Harley Street can be placed you will require that the socket where the root fits into the jaw be completely empty and cleaned out. This means that If you have a decayed, loose tooth or want to replace your natural healthy teeth a tooth extraction is first performed under local anaesthetic and once the tooth is removed, the area is cleaned out and correctly treated to be made ready for the implant.
The implant procedure
After the area has been properly prepared, your dentist will decide if you will need a bone graft, this bone graft ensures that a solid base is present for the implant to fit into; sometimes this procedure can be quite involved which means that you will have to wait for it to heal before the dental implants in Harley Street can be applied. However, if there is enough bone, to begin with, your dentist will perform the implant surgery immediately.
A dental implant is a titanium post or screw that your dentist inserts into the bone of your jaw or skull by using a special drill and other tools, once correctly inserted, the gum is stitched up and you are given a temporary denture for aesthetic purposes to cover the gap before you are sent home to heal before your next appointment. Healing time can take 2-6 months, depending on the quality of your bone, during this time, the growing bone fuses with the titanium securing it in place, making it strong enough to fit a false tooth without risking damage to the internal structure.
After a successful healing process, an abutment is connected to the implant. The dentist then creates a crown, which looks like a real tooth though it is often made of ceramic, that fits onto the abutment. This false tooth will be made to match your other teeth or give you a brand new smile.
The benefits
This surgery is a permanent solution to a missing tooth that so closely resembles a natural tooth that it makes it so very appealing to many people, not only do they look the same but they even feel similar to natural teeth and eating with these dental implants is the same as eating with natural teeth which is often a complaint among people who are fitted with dentures.