What are dental implants?
Dental implants are one of the options of restoring missing teeth. They are made from titanium posts which are surgically inserted into the jaw bones to replace missing teeth. They can support removable dentures, fixed crowns and bridges.
Their use is dependent on several factors such as :
- General medical health
- Quality and quantity of bone
- The gum condition
- The health of the remaining teeth
- Proximity to important nerves, blood vessels and sinuses
Benefits
- To improve appearance
- To improve function—eating, speech
- To preserve the remaining jaw bone
- Quality of life
What dental implants can be used for
- Patients with congenitally missing teeth
- Patients with extreme retching difficulties that have difficulty with dentures
- Loose dentures that cannot be improved conventionally
- Patients with surgical defects
- Cleft palate patients
Types of implant supported teeth
Implants can support an acrylic removable denture, a fixed bridge or a single crown depending on the clinical situation. Teeth can crack or break off the bridge or denture, especially if you grind and clench your teeth.
Attachment clips within the denture can become loose or break after long term use necessitating the need for repair. Appearance can be- compromised if you have advanced bone and gum recession leading to longer looking teeth and dark triangles between adjacent teeth.
It is important that you care for your implants as you would with natural teeth by maintaining good levels of oral hygiene. Smoking is recognised as a risk factor which can result in delayed healing and potential implant failure. Therefore we Advise you to stop smoking before and following completion of treatment.
As with conventional dentures, crown and bridge work repairs, maintenance will be necessary from time to time. This leaflet serves as a general guide . More detailed information can be provided by your clinician.
Planning your treatment
Your clinician will ask questions about your concerns, general health and carry out a thorough examination of your mouth. This process could involve several hospital visits and joint consultations with other specialists.
You should expect to have X- rays taken and impressions to make a mould of your jaws to allow further examination.
Decision making
The outcome of the planning stages will indicate whether implants are suitable and what alternative treatment is available. As implants are more complex they are generally more expensive. You may be told that you have insufficient bone, which may require additional surgery such as a bone graft. The graft could be taken from your chin, the wisdom tooth area in your mouth or if larger quantities are needed, from your hip.
Alternatively grafts from other sources may be used. This additional bone graft procedure could prolong the overall treatment by 4-6 months.
Time scale
The treatment, from the time of placement to completion, could take any time between 6 months to over a year depending on the bone quality, how healing progresses, and if bone grafts were placed.
Alternatives treatments to implants
- No treatment is always an option
- Removable denture / ‘plate’
- Fixed bridge
All options will be discussed with you on your consultation.
Implant insertion
This procedure can be carried out using local anaesthesia in the dental chair or if necessary can be done under a general anaesthetic in theatre. Special instruments are used to create a surgical hole or flap through your gum and bone, the implant is then inserted into the bone and the gum replaced and held together with some dissolvable stitches, these can take up to 5 weeks to disappear. A follow up appointment will be made with the consultant a few weeks later to check the healing and if necessary to take xrays.
The implants will usually be left for at least three months before they
are used. If you usually wear a removable prosthesis for example a denture or retainer, you may be asked to leave this out for the first week to aid healing.
Implant exposure:
A second minor surgical procedure usually under local anaesthesia is undertaken following healing, to expose the top of the implant and to place a healing cap on to the implant. This allows the gum to re-contour around the implant in preparation for the restorative phase.
Restorative phase
This would involve obtaining follow-up X-rays and impressions, to assess healing and also to order the appropriate implant accessory parts. The number of appointments at this stage varies depending on whether the space is to be restored with a denture or a bridge. Review appointments are made to monitor the implant restoration and underlying bone.
Potential complications
Following surgery some degree of discomfort swelling and bruising should be expected. This is not uncommon however prolonged and severe pain should be reported to your clinician as these signs may be an early indication of complications.
Implants can be rejected resulting in pain loosening, infections and complete loss of the implant.
Please speak to a member of staff if you need this leaflet in large print, braille, audio or another language.
