Dental Implants — La Porte, IN

Dental Implant Consultation

To ensure your new smile has everything it needs to thrive, you’ll need a consultation with your dentist in La Porte. Besides a visual examination, we will also discuss your medical and lifestyle history to ensure you have minimal risk factors for complications. We will also use a CT scan to look for any issues that might be brewing beneath the surface, like infection or bone loss. Depending on the results of the consultation you might need additional treatments before moving forward with your placement surgery, like periodontal therapy, bone grafting, or tooth extractions. After you’ve healed from any previous treatments, you can move forward with your placement surgery.

Dental Implant Surgery

Dental implants are a long-term investment in your smile, so it’s essential that they’re placed perfectly. We partner with some of the best oral surgeons in the area to ensure this step in your treatment is as successful, comfortable, and smooth as possible.

To place the dental implant post, the surgeon will make a small incision in your gums to reach the jawbone, where they’ll drill a small hole into a predetermined location. The dental implant post is then inserted and the gums are sutured closed. A small cap will b placed over the top of the implant post to protect it and maintain the shape of your gums as the healing process begins.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment

After your surgery, the dental implant post will undergo osseointegration. This is the process where it fuses with the surrounding bone tissue to essentially become a part of your jaw. This is a very gradual process that typically takes four to six months. Then, if the abutment wasn’t attached during the initial surgery, you’ll complete one more minor surgery to have this small connector piece secured into place.

Delivery of Final Restoration

It takes about 2 weeks for your mouth to heal after placing the abutment. During this time, our office is hard at work creating your restoration. We use all-ceramic material to ensure it looks like a real tooth. It’s carefully crafted to match the color, size, and shape of your teeth to blend in. It will look and feel natural, so you can chew, speak, and smile confidently.

Day-to-Day Benefits

Dental implants are designed to mimic real teeth in nearly every way. Improved stability for tooth replacements makes it easier to eat and speak. Because your implants don’t rely on natural suction to stay in place, you won’t have to worry about them slipping or shifting in your mouth like you would with traditional dentures. In addition, you’re sure to have boosted confidence because your restorations will look and feel completely natural. Unlike normal dentures, implants also require easy, uncomplicated maintenance. All you have to do is remain diligent about brushing and flossing your teeth every day and visit Region Dental as usual. It’s really that simple!

Health Benefits

When a tooth root is gone, the body resorbs the nutrients that would normally be sent to the jawbone. Over time, the bone loses density and strength, weakening your ability to bite and chew. Unfortunately, traditional dentures do nothing to stop this degradation, which is why so many denture wearers still struggle with eating fibrous, nutritious foods. As a result, they can suffer from many other health issues and even have a shorter life expectancy. Implants keep the jawbone strong, enabling you to maintain a healthy diet and increasing your quality of life.

Long-Term Benefits

While dentures and bridges need to be replaced about every 10 years at the longest, implants can last for more than 30 years and still be successful. This means that you can hold onto your youthful facial structure for as long as possible, continue to have a strong jawbone, and save money on tooth replacements down the road. Although this treatment involves a lot of work, time, and resources upfront, implants could end up costing you less overall, allowing you to enjoy more freedom as you age.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

Typically, you’ll need three things to be considered a good candidate for dental implants:

• Good overall health: Placing dental implants is a surgical procedure, so you need to be healthy enough to undergo minor surgery.
• Great oral health: Problems like tooth decay and gum disease can potentially cause dental implants to fail, so they need to be taken care of first.
• Adequate jawbone density: Your jawbone needs to be thick and dense enough to support your new dental implants. If it isn’t, we may recommend bone grafting to strengthen your jaw.

Don’t worry — just because you’re not a good candidate for dental implants right away doesn’t mean you can’t become one! If needed, we’ll be happy to help you get on track for rebuilding your smile. Then, once you’re ready for treatment, we’ll help you determine which type of dental implant restoration is right for you depending on the extent of your tooth loss.

Missing 1 Tooth

If you have a single gap in your smile, we may suggest an implant-retained crown. Without altering your surrounding healthy teeth, we can restore the root and biting surface of your tooth with a custom-crafted crown made from strong porcelain or ceramic. Not only does this option last longer than a traditional crown, but it also will keep your other teeth from drifting out of place to fill in the gap of your missing tooth.

Missing Multiple Teeth

Traditional bridges require the preparation of your surrounding natural teeth to anchor the replacement teeth in place. Instead of putting your healthy pearly whites at risk, we may suggest replacing two or more consecutive teeth with an implant-retained bridge. They will be secured in place with titanium implants, allowing for a natural look and feel.

Missing All Teeth

For patients with significant tooth loss, the most efficient solution is an implant denture. Instead of relying on the gums or remaining healthy teeth to hold them in place like traditional full or partial denture, implant dentures are anchored into place with four to eight dental implants.

We offer many types of implant dentures, including both removable and fixed (non-removable). We can also help you replace all your missing teeth with All-On-4 implant dentures. This method holds a full denture in place with just four strategically placed dental implants. During your consultation, we’ll fully review all your options and explain our recommendations.

Learn More About Implant Dentures

Learn More About All-On-4 Implant Dentures

Make Oral Hygiene a Priority

While dental implants are technically immune to cavities, they can still be compromised if the gum or bone tissue supporting them becomes infected. To prevent this, stick to an excellent daily oral hygiene regiment that includes brushing, flossing, and rinsing with antibacterial mouthwash to eliminate plaque and food debris. Just be sure to be especially careful when flossing since pressing too deep into the gum tissue can lead to injury.

Eat a Healthy Diet

Dental implants give you the chewing power you need to eat whatever you like, so make sure to enjoy a balanced and diverse diet that provides the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. While lean meats, snappy, raw veggies, and fresh fruit are all tasty and excellent options, consuming items that are sticky, sugary, or acidic too frequently can damage your dental implants.

Break Bad Habits

Tobacco use is utterly horrible for your oral health, so it’s best to quit a smoking, chewing, dipping, or vaping habit before receiving implants. Excessive alcohol use can also be harmful to your gum tissue, so be sure to enjoy hard beverages only in moderation. It’s also important to abstain from using your teeth to open packages or bottles since this can destroy your natural and artificial teeth.

Protect Your Dental Implants

While dental implants are quite strong, they are not indestructible and can be damaged due to injury. If you enjoy playing sports or riding a bike, remember to wear an athletic mouthguard for protection against falls and blows. If you grind your teeth in your sleep, be sure to wear an appropriate device to reduce the damage. We can provide you with a customized nightguard that provides superior protection.

Schedule Regular Dental Checkups

Visit our office in La Porte every six months for routine checkups and cleanings. These visits allow us to monitor the health of your natural teeth and dental implants, address problems in their early stages, and recommend better hygiene practices for you to apply at home.