Dental Implants – Morgan Hill, CA

What Are Dental Implants?

Dental implants are tiny rods that are surgically placed in the jawbone to serve as new tooth roots. Because the implants are made from biocompatible titanium, the jawbone grows attached to them over the course of a few months. After this process, called osseointegration, is complete, we can attach any number of prosthetic teeth on top of the implants.

The 4-Step Dental Implant Process

Instead of running across town to visit a specialist for the surgical step of your treatment, you can experience start-to-finish dental implant care under one roof thanks to Dr. Hong’s extensive training. The details of the process can vary, but the four basic phases remain the same for each patient:

• Initial consultation – First, Dr. Hong must evaluate your candidacy for dental implants and complete any necessary preparatory work. Then, she can begin carefully planning your treatment.
• Surgery – Using an ultraprecise surgical guide, Dr. Hong will place the implants at strategic positions so that you will have great looking restorations at the end.
• Osseointegration – Your implants heal with surrounding bone, which can take up to six months.
• Restoration – Lastly, we can secure a customized dental crown, bridge, or denture atop your implants.

Benefits of Dental Implants

If you’re looking to turn back the clock on tooth loss, you won’t find a better solution than dental implants. Since they recreate every section of the teeth, they’re able to look, feel, and function exactly like the pearly whites you once had. You’ll never need to worry about them shifting around, and they stimulate blood flow to the jaw to prevent bone loss. With proper care, you can expect your implants to easily last for 30 years or maybe even a lifetime!

Who Dental Implants Can Help

Besides their lifelike results, another reason for the popularity of dental implants is their versatility. Whether you need to replace just one tooth, a few teeth, or an entire row, dental implants can help the majority of healthy adults enjoy a complete smile again. After Dr. Hong verifies your eligibility, she can begin planning one of the following dental implant treatments.

Missing One Tooth

By placing a single implant into the gap and covering it with a crown, there’s no need to modify any healthy tooth structure like there would be to place a dental bridge. This makes an implant the healthier and less invasive choice in the long term.

Missing Multiple Teeth

We may be able to fill gaps throughout the arch by anchoring a partial denture onto a few expertly positioned implants. Several consecutive teeth can be brought back by securing a bridge onto two implant posts, each placed at one end of the empty space. This method preserves your remaining enamel while also being more cost-effective than replacing each tooth with its own implant.

Missing All Teeth

It’s possible to provide enough support for a full denture using just four to eight posts. Implant dentures are much more reliable than traditional prosthetics; they never slip, and you can brush and floss them like regular teeth instead of performing a time-consuming cleaning routine every night.

Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants

While dental implants are easy to get excited about, it’s also completely fair to be a little bit trepidations about what they could cost you. While dental implants can be more expensive than other methods of tooth replacement, it’s also the case that you get what you pay for; their resilience and realism meant that what you’re getting is absolutely worth what you pay.

It’s also the case that dental implants don’t necessarily have to break the bank. If you’re interested in budgeting for the treatment effectively, here’s some information you might find useful.

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Preliminary Treatments & Dental Implant Surgery

Before thinking about the dental implant itself, there are often preliminary procedures that precede the surgery. If your jaw isn’t sufficiently strong to support the dental implant, it may be necessary to get a bone graft or sinus lift beforehand. Rampant gum disease can also be a problem for the longevity of your implants, so it’s sometimes necessary to perform periodontal therapy before the surgery. Each of these procedures incur their own cost.

Then there’s the price of the dental implant surgery itself. We’re proud to be able to complete this entire procedure in-house, meaning that we will be able to give you an accurate estimate of what you’ll spend on the procedure before we meet you.

The Parts of Your Dental Implant

Of course, a fair amount of the cost of getting dental implants will come from the implants themselves, which in itself can vary depending on a few factors:

• The number of dental implants you’re getting
• The restoration being placed on the implants. Restorations that replace many teeth, like dentures, will be pricier than crowns or bridges that replace only a few.
• The material your dental implant is made from.
• The size of the dental implant.
• The brand of dental implant you’re using.

How Dental Implants Can Save You Money

While it’s true that dental bridges and dentures are the cheaper tooth replacement options, there are some good financial reasons to choose dental implants. The main one is that dental implants routinely last well over 30 years, more than twice as long as what you can expect from other methods of tooth replacement. Dental implants are also often easier to clean than bridges or dentures, meaning that patients typically wind up with fewer health issues to deal with.

Together, these factors mean that you’re likely to spend a lot less on replacements and follow-up treatments with dental implants, saving you cash in the long run.

Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?

For a long time, insurance companies considered dental implants to be elective, and were unlikely to cover it. However, that’s rapidly changing. We’ll work with your insurance company in order to ensure that you’re getting the most coverage that you possibly can.

Making Dental Implants Affordable 

If you don’t have insurance, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go without dental implants. You may be interested in financing, which can help you front the cost of care and allow you to pay it off later. We work with both CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit, both of which offer low-to-no interest financing terms to patients who qualify.

If you’re interested in this or any other financial option to make dental implants affordable, give us a call and we’ll be happy to talk through them with you.

Dental Implant FAQs

Based on what you know, maybe you want dental implants in Morgan Hill. The prosthetics, after all, can restore your smile to working order. Even so, it’s a good idea to learn more about them first. Doing so would confirm if implants are right for you. Fortunately, we at Timeless Smiles can fill in the blanks. To that end, our team has listed some answers to oft-asked questions about dental implants. Feel free to read them and get a sense of our treatment. Otherwise, just call us for other concerns you have.

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Are Dental Implants Safe?

When placed by qualified professionals, dental implants are highly safe. They won’t cause any lasting harm to your (remaining) teeth, gums, or any other body part.

 

For one thing, the implants themselves aren’t dangerous. Their titanium bases aren’t toxic, and their porcelain surfaces don’t irritate mouth tissues. As a result, they shouldn’t result in any severe side effects.

 

Plus, dentists take proper precautions when placing implants. If a patient has low jawbone density or gum disease, they’ll fix these issues beforehand. (This approach makes implant surgery safer and more successful.) Should you have a medical condition that makes surgery risky, they’ll also discuss it with you at the initial consult.

 

How Successful Are Dental Implants?

So long as you get them from a skilled dentist, implants work very well. In fact, these prosthetic teeth have a 10-year success rate of over 95%!

 

Still, implants only succeed when you take care of them properly. Poor maintenance habits often lead them to fail early. As such, you must remember to practice good oral hygiene, routine dental visits, healthy eating, etc. These things will keep your restorations in good shape for a good long time.

 

On the other hand, you should keep implant location in mind too. Molars, for example, receive more chewing strain than false teeth. Consequently, molar-type implants may be a tad likelier to fail.

 

How Long Does It Take to Recover from Dental Implant Surgery?

Rather than occurring all at once, implant surgery recovery comes in stages. Each of these periods has a unique timeline for healing.

 

When it comes to immediate surgery effects, recovering doesn’t take long. You’ll be able to resume normal activities the day after placement. Any wooziness you might’ve felt from anesthetics or sedation will have worn off by that time.

 

Things like bleeding and swelling, though, take longer to heal. Dentists say such things should stop after three or four days. To ensure that happens, then, avoid strenuous exercise for the first week after surgery.

 

Lastly, implants only fuse with your jaw about six months after surgery. You thus want to make sure you don’t do anything to disrupt that process.

 

Will People Be Able to Tell That I Have Dental Implants?

The answer to this question is “unlikely.” Implants are so toothlike that people struggle to tell them apart from natural teeth.

 

This fact partly stems from implants being customized. Naturally, labs will rely on your dental impressions to design personalized restorations. The result is that the prosthetic will match the surrounding teeth in color, shape, and position.

 

Implants are also hard to notice due to going into the jaw. Due to that feature, the restorations don’t slip or fall as dentures might. Similarly, they don’t require you to hold your jaw awkwardly to keep them in place.