Single Implant
Dental Implants > Single Implant
People may lose teeth for three reasons: broken teeth, gum disease, or decay. No matter the reason, any tooth can be replaced by a dental implant. The patient can chew again and smile, just like when they had their natural teeth.
The process starts with a 3D x-ray to evaluate your bone dimensions. If you have enough bone, we will schedule your implant surgery. The procedure will last about one hour, and you will have a follow-up visit one month later. During the follow-up visit, Dr. Lydia will determine if we need a tooth x-ray to ensure you are healing well. The implant is usually covered by a "healing cap" to avoid a second surgery to expose the implant. After a healing period of about three months for the lower jaw and three-five months for the upper jaw, you will come back to have an intraoral scan. In about three weeks, you will come back to have your tooth crown placed. 98% of the time, the crown will be screwed in (instead of cemented). This will allow easy retrieval in the future in case the crown needs to be removed for any reason.
In case you don't have enough bone to place an implant, we can rebuild your bone foundation by a procedure called guided bone regeneration of bone graft surgery. Depending on the amount of bone we need to rebuild, we may be able to place the implant at the time of the bone augmentation. Most of the time, we prefer to rebuild the site and wait three-six months to have a second surgery and place the implant. We look for the best prognosis, and Dr. Lydia will explain more in your initial consultation.
Sometimes a tooth can not be saved and needs extraction. In some cases, Dr. Lydia can place the implant at the same time as the tooth extraction to avoid a second surgery. This technique is called "immediate implant placement" and requires specific steps. You will know if you are a candidate for an immediate implant in your initial consultation. Because we also specialize in saving teeth, we are not biased to only place implants. We recommend what is best for the patient, and Dr. Lydia will clearly explain why you would choose to extract a tooth or save it.