Dental Implants
Implants are designed to replace missing teeth giving patients the ability to function with corrected biting and chewing activity. As well as, recreating a smile where a patient may have a missing tooth. They look, feel, and perform better than having bridges and dentures.
Having metal-based, porcelain-crowned artificial teeth surgically placed into the jawbone hardly sounds like a cosmetic procedure. But, implants are a huge improvement on dentures or removable bridges. And the numbers of procedures performed have tripled in the last decade. They look far better than dentures and allow patients to eat any food that people with strong, natural teeth can enjoy. Another big advantage is that implants don't require grinding down the adjacent teeth (performed to improve the grip of bridges and dentures).
So-called permanent bridges have 74% chance of remaining fixed, while implants have a 98% success record. Lower dentures, and sometimes uppers as well can be quite difficult to chew with as there is nothing to hold them in place. Adhesives help somewhat, but not as well as people would like. A few implants with small attachments on them of various designs can make a denture much easier to wear and chew with.
The procedure for implants is very simple. Our peridontist, Dr. Rick Webb does the initial implant procedure. Local anesthetic is given for the patient's comfort. A small incisor is made in the gum area exposing the position where the implant should be placed. The implant site is then measured and developed.A small cylinder is placed in the site and a healing cap is inserted inside the implant. Sutures are placed at the implant area and the patient will wait 60 to 90 days for the bone to grow around the screws and posts that anchor the new teeth (crowns) are attached above the gum line.
To be eligible for implants, you must be in overall good health and have good bone density in your jaw. Smoking will delay the healing and increase implant failure rate. The patient can expect to have a soft food diet for several days following the treatment. Once Dr. Webb completes the implant procedure, the patient is then seen by Dr. Capps or Dr. Bowman to design and attach the crowns to the posts.
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Dr Robert Capps DDS, Dr Mark Bowman DDS and Dr Rick Webb DDS: Periodontists - Providing services in cosmetic dentistry and dental implants to the area of Greenville, Eastern North Carolina.
Greenville Cosmetic Dentist
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