Dental Implants

Are you looking for a stable, aesthetic dental restoration to replace missing teeth? Dr. Joe Gerard can provide you with custom dental implants for a long-lasting and natural-looking smile. We invite you to call Arizona Dental at 602-910-3860 to schedule a consultation with our dentist and determine whether you should receive dental implants in Phoenix and Sun City, Arizona.

Benefits of Dental Implants

• Promptly rekindles confidence while smiling.
• Promotes hassle-free food & beverage consumption.
• Allows for a long-term solution regarding oral aesthetics.
• Effectively corrective involving missing or damaged teeth.
• Less invasive than other dental treatments involving oral correction.
• Patients often experience minimal discomfort while adapting to dental implants.
• Arguably an extremely cost-efficient means to address dental issues in many instances.

The Innate Advantages of Dental Implants

Replacing a missing tooth can restore your smile to optimal health, function, and appearance. A dental implant is a great option for restoring your smile because the implant is designed to look, function, and feel just like your natural teeth, and with proper care, it can last a lifetime. For more information about the benefits of implant dentistry, and to schedule your implant consultation, please call or visit us soon.

Typical Reasons For Dental Implants

Why Our Patients Prefer Our Dental Implant Care

With the amazing breakthroughs in the dental implant field recently adapting to combine longevity, durability, and an unbridled emphasis on aesthetics, it’s definitely worth the time to explore if your particular dental situation can and should be improved by dental implants. As such, we’ve been a leading provider of dental implants and the procedures surrounding their application here at Arizona Dental. We take tremendous pride in providing a service that can truly enhance the lives of our valued patients and the satisfaction of dental implant patients is a testament to that. Granted it’s true that each patient is unique in their dental needs, especially concerning dental implants; however, the end results when our patients decide dental implants are the best choice for them are always memorable in the best of ways.

Implant Dentistry

Dental implants are a safe, reliable treatment choice to replace missing teeth. Dental implants are essentially “man-made” roots designed to mirror the size, shape and function of a patient’s natural tooth root. With dental implants, only the missing tooth is treated- the adjacent teeth are not prepped, cut or reduced.

What To Expect With Dental Implants

Under local anesthesia, an implant is placed into the area of the missing tooth and is then allowed to heal and integrate with the cond. Once healed, the patient is ready for the impressions to be made. The implant is then restored with an abutment and crown. A permanent crown is placed to restore the implant to a tooth’s natural appearance and function. Dental implants can be the ideal solution for replacing missing or lost teeth and can significantly improve your quality of life by restoring your smile, confidence, comfort and peace of mind. Furthermore, dental implants can also be used as support for bridges or dentures if multiple teeth are missing.

What's Involved With Dental Implants

When a tooth is lost the specialized bony process that houses the tooth begins to resorb due to lack of stimulation. This causes a decrease in width and height of the bone in the area the tooth is lost. Neighboring teeth and opposing teeth begin to move into the space. This causes food lodgment, subsequent decay, gum disease and abnormal forces being transmitted to teeth leading to fracture of cusps which may necessitate root canal treatment or extraction. Loss of teeth can also cause the cheek and lips to collapse giving an aged look. The consequences of tooth loss can be prevented by replacing the lost tooth in a timely manner. Although there are several options to replace a missing tooth the number one choice for replacing lost teeth are dental implants. Implants are tiny titanium screws or posts that are surgically placed in the bone. Once integrated into a bond they act like roots onto which small posts are attached which protrude through the gums. These posts provide stable anchors to the replacement teeth. Implants maintain the bone height by stimulation and prevent unnecessary trimming of adjoining teeth for bridge placement. Since implants are titanium posts there is no chance for decay on implants. Implants can service you for several years with regular professional cleaning and proper home care.

Dental Implants & Their Effectiveness

Many people who are missing a single tooth opt for a fixed bridge; but a bridge may require the cutting down of healthy, adjacent teeth that may or may not need to be restored in the future. Then there is the additional cost of possibly having to replace the bridge once, twice or more over the course of a lifetime due to decay or gum problems affecting the anchor teeth.

Studies show that within five to seven years there is a failure rate of up to 30% in teeth located next to a fixed bridge or removable partial denture.

How Dental Implants Can Help

• Bone Loss Prevention
• Bite Force Restoration
• Promotes Natural Speech
• Enables Efficient Consumption
• Retains Facial/Jaw Shape
• Long-term Cavity Avoidance
• Simple & Easy Upkeep
• Lends Additional Dental Support
• Permanent Solution Preventing Tooth Loss

Dental Implant Options

Another option to replace missing teeth is a removable partial denture or completed denture depending on the number of teeth missing. The chewing efficiency with a denture is reduced to more than half of that of natural teeth. The teeth that support the partial denture are weakened due to the excessive loads acting on them and eventually are lost. The denture rests on the gum causing tissue abrasion and bone loss. Removable dentures may slip or cause embarrassing clicking sounds while eating or speaking.

Candidacy For Dental Implants

Who is a candidate for dental implants?

Anyone who is missing one or several teeth is a candidate for implants. With the exception of growing children, dental implants are the solution of choice for people of all ages, even those with common or pressing dental concerns or medical conditions.

Considering a patient's oral makeup and dental condition is solely unique to each person, there is no "one-size-fits-all" for dental implants; however, there are certain criteria that our dental office takes into account when we are consulting or ultimately providing dental implants on behalf of a local patient.

Dental Implant Determination

• Existing Medical Conditions:
  If you can have routine dental treatment, you can generally have an implant placed. While precautions are advisable for certain conditions, patients with such chronic diseases as high blood pressure and diabetes are usually successful candidates for dental implant treatment.
• Gum Disease or Problem Teeth:
  Almost all implants placed in patients who have lost their teeth to periodontal disease or decay have been successful.
• Currently Wearing Partials or Dentures:
  Implants can replace removable bridges or dentures, or they can be used to stabilize and secure the denture, making it much more comfortable.
• Smokers & Vapers:
  Although smoking lowers the success rate of implants, it doesn’t eliminate the possibility of getting them.
• Jawline & Bone Loss:
  Bone loss is not uncommon for people who have lost teeth or had periodontal disease. Dr. Gerard is trained and experienced in grafting bone to safely and permanently secure the implant.

Dental Implant Procedure

Granted every dental implant procedure is inherenly different from one another, there are certain similiarities and commonalities that a present with most any dental implant procedure. For instance:

Dental Implant Placement Usually Takes Two Surgical Appointments

• During the first surgical appointment the implant site is prepared to receive the implant following strict aseptic procedures. The selected size of the implant is placed in the prepared site. The gum tissue is sutured over the implant. The implant takes 4- 6 months to fuse with the bone.
• During the second surgical appointment the implant is uncovered and the appropriate post is attached to which the replacement tooth is anchored. An impression of the post is taken and sent to the lab for the fabrication of the implant crown. During this time a temporary crown is placed. Once the final crown is back it is cemented with permanent cement.

Mini Dental Implants

Mini dental implants are about half the size in diameter of a regular dental implant. This offers many benefits, and they can also be used in situations where regular implants cannot. If an implant needs to be placed in a narrow space, mini implants are the preferred method because of their smaller size. A main use for mini implants is to install a full upper or lower denture. A series of mini implants (4-6) are placed along the gum line and they serve as the base of the denture. Rather than placing a single implant for a single tooth, an entire lower or upper set of teeth are directly attached to the gum line. The small size of mini implants often means that no incision needs to be made to place the implant. They can usually be inserted right through the gum into the bone. This eliminates the need for a recovery period, and the restoration can usually be placed right away or only a short time after. Mini implants are also less expensive than regular implants. Only your dentist knows if mini implants are right for you, so call for your consultation today.

Dental Implants F.A.Q.S.

There are a wealth of questions surrounding dental implants and it's important for patients to approach the idea of dental implants from a position of knowledge. As such, we've listed a few of the frequent questions and concerns regarding dental implants.

• What are they?
• What's the difference between dentures?
• What are the benefits?
• Who can work with them?
• What are the costs?
• Are they painful?
• Are they long-lasting?