For many years, patients suffering from missing teeth due to decay, disease, or injury had limited tooth replacement options. However, dental technology has come a long way, and patients now have many excellent options, including what is often called the “gold standard” of tooth replacement – dental implants. At Martin Taylor Dentistry in Tucson, AZ, we offer this effective and highly customized solution for missing teeth to help your smile not only look terrific again but feel and function great.
Dental implants are a wonderful choice for many reasons, ranging from aesthetics to oral health benefits and everything in between:
What is a dental implant?
At Martin Taylor Dentistry, we place a lot of dental implants. A dental implant is a titanium post that is placed in the upper or lower jawbone done to replace a missing tooth.
How does the procedure work for a dental implant?
The procedure is pretty straightforward. Once the tooth is out, and the bone site has healed, you do minor surgery to place the implant into the gum.
There will be stitches afterwards, and you let that heal for four months. After it is fully healed, we go through the process of putting a crown, which takes about another three weeks. At that point, your tooth is replaced.
What are the other options available to replace a missing tooth?
You can do a bridge where you have to work on the teeth in front and behind the space. The bridge is three crowns planted together, which sits on those two teeth to fill in space.
You can also do a partial, which is like a denture that you take in and out.
For some patients, “mini dental implants” can be a great way to support dentures or large dental bridges. With this approach, you can combine the stability and function of dental implants without the cost associated with replacing every missing tooth with an implant.
While many patients with tooth loss are good candidates for dental implants, in some cases, if the jawbone has deteriorated too much to adequately fuse with the implant, then bone grafting may be necessary before implants can be placed. Dr. Martin and Dr. Taylor are highly trained and experienced in all aspects of the dental implant process and providing truly customized, natural-looking results. To learn more about dental implants and whether they are right for you, call our Tucson, AZ office at (520) 600-6925.
You will love our office at Martin Taylor Dentistry. You will also enjoy the special way we say thanks to every new patient.