Keeping our natural teeth for as long as possible has always been our goal, however they can be damaged or lost due to unforeseen circumstances such as broken tooth, gum disease or decay. In the past, replacing teeth with dentures or bridges had been the mainstay for teeth replacement. Today, dental implants have become an important and conservative alternative to replacement of your teeth.
Why is it important to replace missing teeth?
- The teeth on either side of the space can drift and tilt into the space left by the missing tooth
- Your gums and underlying jaw bone can waste away due to the lack of stimulation (like soil erosion without tree roots to hold it in)
- There is less support for your biting forces and has an increased risk of breaking even more teeth
What are dental implants?
Dental implants are artificial tooth roots made from titanium and placed precisely into your jaw bone to support a replacement tooth/teeth. Titanium is a biocompatible material that can integrate more successfully with your jaw bone. Dental crowns and bridges that are fitted on to the implant will feel more natural and will provide support when you are eating or speaking.
Dentally, implants are more conservative than your traditional crowns and bridges as we will not have to damage the neighbouring teeth.
What implants do we use?
The implant system that we use, Neoss ProActive®, are produced from Grade IV commercially pure titanium and has unique surface characteristics that aids with the integration of the implant to your jaw bone. For more information about the implant system, visit the Neoss Implant website. (https://www.neoss.com/implants)
Implants vs Dentures vs Bridges
Depending on the condition of your mouth and your circumstances, Implants, Bridges and Dentures are all viable options for teeth replacement and all have their place in your dental health.
| Implants | Bridges | Dentures |
| Most Natural, preserves bone and soft tissue | Looks natural, but the underlying bone may reduce over time | Looks fine, but may see the metal clasps for retention |
| If well looked after, does not have any affect on the surrounding soft tissues | Can be a little difficult to clean under the bridge itself. | May be ill fitting and can make your gums sore from rubbing |
| Does not affect neighbouring teeth | Need to grind down neighbouring teeth | Some teeth may undergo more stress from the metal clasps |
| $$$ | $$ | $ |
| Does not need to be removed | Does not need to be removed | Needs to be removed regularly for cleaning |
| Regular cleaning with brushing and flossing/waterflossing | Cleaning with a waterflosser or a specialised floss under the bridge | Brushing and cleaning/soaking the denture in denture cleaning solutions |
What is involved?
The planning will include an intra-oral scan with a scanner and a 3D X-Ray (CBCT). Once the plan is established, a titanium implant body will be placed into your jaw bone with a healing period of approximately 3 months. Once the implant body has integrated, we can then scan and fabricate the implant crown to fit with the surrounding soft tissue and teeth. The whole process may take around 4-5 months not including the healing after the extraction.
You may find it surprising that for most people, the discomfort after implant surgery will be a lot less than the tooth extraction itself.
If you are missing one or more teeth, or even if you have no teeth and would like to replace them with dental implants, book an implant consultation with either Dr Jacky, Dr Dallin or Dr Eden by calling (07)3216 1100 or book online.