How are dental implants used?

A dental implant is a false tooth that is fitted in your mouth in place of a tooth that you have lost or had to extract. The procedure will take some time and will roughly follow this schedule. The dentist will take an imprint of your denture in plaster of paris to give the specification of the dental implant needed to the dental technician who will construct it. Once it is ready a small screw made of titanium is attached in the place where the tooth root would have been.

The titanium material is said to achieve better integration with the living bone of the jaw and is used for this benefit. Although future dental implants may be using an alloy of titanium which has better tensile strength and is more resistant to fractures. It is giving even better results in research at present. For a single dental implant the surgery may be conducted under local anesthesia, but if multiple implants are needed the dentist might decide to use general anesthesia.

A single implant usually takes about an hour to complete. It is not uncommon for a multiple implant surgery to take several hours together. The healing and integration will take about three to six months depending on how well the patient responds to the dental implant. An implant might be more expensive but is also better than a denture as it allows the person to chew and masticate better than with a denture. So are you ready for getting a dental implant?

Mel writes about dental implants and advice about general dental health