STEP-By-STEP Dental Implant Procedure: What To Expect And How To Care for Dental Implants Later
Two decades ago, tooth withering was considered a natural process, and people adapted to live with tooth loss. Even today loss of teeth due to decay , trauma or gum disease is not uncommon.
Today, the more convenient and affordable dental implants have revolutionised the dental world, and almost everyone can benefit from them. You can get them with easy dental implants procedure steps, but let’s first understand what they are, their benefits, and what steps are involved.
What are Dental Implants?
A dental implant is a synthetic replacement for a missing tooth. It has a screw-like structure. The surgeon drills the implant into the jawbone and embeds it like an anchor. Next, an artificial tooth, called a crown, is fixed upon it with an abutment.
The abutment connects the artificial tooth with the dental implant. The crown looks, feels, and functions like natural teeth.
Step-by-Step Dental Implants Procedure Steps
Step 1: Consultation and Planning
The consultation, diagnosis, and planning are important steps for the rest of the process. At first, the dentist will physically analyse your mouth. Next, they might also order some specific mouth scans (3-D X-rays) to examine your dental structure.
The consultation and planning might involve various specialists like a maxillofacial surgeon (highly trained oral surgeons), periodontist (gum specialist) and prosthodontist (prepares the design for artificial teeth) to construct a holistic blueprint for the implant procedure.
Once the implant plan is ready, the dentist will instruct you on which implant options to consider, what to expect, and how to prepare for dental implants procedure steps.
Step 2: Placement of Dental Implant or Tooth Root
Anaesthesia will be injected on the implant spot. The hollow tooth socket is cleaned and prepared for implantation. The implant screw is made of ‘Titanium,” a non-reactive metal that easily adheres to the natural gums and jaw bone. In limited cases, the surgeon might need to place a bone graft in the gum to stimulate bone growth around the titanium screw.
Once the socket is prepared, a small cut is made in the jaw, and the implant is drilled into the socket.
Step 3: Attachment of Abutment
Once the implant has conformed in the jaw, a small post called an abutment is placed in the jaw post. For this, the dentist makes a small cut above the implant site and attaches the abutment to hold the artificial tooth firmly.
Sometimes, the abutment is attached to the implant in the first step, which is visible from the top.
Step 4: Attachment to artificial cap or tooth
The prosthodontist obtains an impression of the rest of the tooth and implant site to design the artificial tooth. You can choose removable or permanent tooth crowns. The crown’s colour will be similar to your natural teeth (not extremely whitish) to blend in naturally.
Step 5: Immediate Aftercare
Your implant site will be properly bandaged to avoid bleeding, and you will be given post-surgery analgesic medicines to subdue the pain.
What to expect?
The dental implant procedure is done on an outpatient basis and involves multiple steps. From start to finish, the dental implant procedure steps can take several weeks, most of the time devoted to gum healing, new bone growth, and adhesion of bone and gum pulp with implant/implants.
As the anaesthesia wears off after some time, you may feel pain or discomfort at the implantation site. You may also witness mild pain, bruising, and swelling on the face.
Pain, bruising, and swelling are expected for a week. However, the medicines prescribed take care of such discomfort.
You will be expected to follow post-surgery instructions carefully to avoid any deviation from the results.
Aftercare considerations
- Take a liquid diet on the day of implant, abutment, or artificial tooth attachment procedure.
- Apply healing medications on time
- Avoid hot and spicy food .
- Keep yourself hydrated all the time
- Visit for appointments regularly
- Note your healing indications and convey them to the dentist transparently
- Use a dentist-recommended toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss to maintain your dental hygiene
Benefits
Dental Implants offer the following benefits:
- They look natural and blend with your natural teeth.
- They can be implanted independently (of other teeth); thus, they are highly customizable.
- They need low maintenance: As much is required for maintaining natural teeth.
- Artificial tooth replacement with the implant is quite successful.
- They last for several years with proper care.
- They Improve your chewing function.
- They enable you to eat whatever you want.
- They improve your overall health by enabling your regular food intake.
- They Improve your facial aesthetics.
- They lower the risk of cavities.
- They reduce the chances of bone loss in the jaw.
If you commit to the above aftercare, you can expect quicker recovery without major dental issues. City Dental Care always provides you with the best dental care you deserve. Our expert team of 2 highly experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeons is quick-witted to analyse your dental issues comprehensively.
Our specialist team for dental implants is devoted to offering the best dental implant surgery with highly advanced prosthetics and dental implant procedures.