Dental Implants Frequently Asked Questions

You are a suitable candidate for getting dental implants from top implant dentists in Forest Hill. If you have one or more teeth missing in your mouth, have satisfactory physical and oral/dental health, and you are not suffering from any chronic medical or dental illness. You may not be eligible for getting implants if you are suffering from any systemic illness, pathology of the bones, or have any problems related to your heart, kidney, or liver.

A dental implant is not a one-step process. Between waiting for your jaw bones to heal, scheduling visits to your dentist, and creating your crowns, the entire process generally takes 3-6 months to complete.

Dental implants represent one of the biggest advances in dentistry and have an overall success rate of about 96%. While every patient and dental implant case is different, many patients report minimal or no pain during the procedure.

The question of what dental implants cost is always one of the first to come up when discussing the topic. The cost of dental implants varies based on the complexity of the procedure, how many implants are needed, and the type of prosthetic tooth used. Over multiple years, implants can be the most cost-effective solution to missing teeth in the long run. 

With proper oral care and maintenance, you can expect your dental implants to last a lifetime. However, the service life of an implant mainly depends upon your own oral hygiene maintenance. The better your oral health and hygiene, the longer will your implants last.

The most critical requirement for the care of your dental implants is to look after your oral health. You should consider your implants as your natural teeth, and brush and floss them regularly, as you should do for your natural teeth. In addition, you should take special care of the gums surrounding the dental implants, as one of the major reasons for the failure of an implant is gum and periodontal infections.

After implant surgery, the gums and mouth need to heal before a dental crown, or prosthetic tooth is placed. You can still use a denture during the healing period, and we can always make provisions to have temporary teeth made. In some cases where dentures are worn, we ask patients to wear their dentures part-time, if possible, during the initial healing period (3-14 days).

Although an exam, radiograph, or CT scan may be necessary to evaluate the amount of bone present, most patients have enough bone to place implants. The longer a person has been missing teeth, the greater the amount of bone loss or atrophy that will have occurred. Sometimes insufficient bone will require the placement of a bone graft before implants are placed.

Depending on how severe it is and how well it has been controlled, gum disease can be a factor when placing dental implants since it can lead to infection and implant failure. When possible, it’s typically better to address the gum disease (periodontal disease) and establish a good oral hygiene routine first, then proceed with the placement of dental implants.