Dental Implants — Franklin, TN
Seamlessly Completing Smiles
Why Choose Paige Prather Smiles for Dental Implants?
- Start-to-Finish Convenience
- Advanced Dental Technology
- Flexible Financing Available
What Are Dental Implants?
Dental implants are titanium posts that are inserted below the gums, allowing our team to replace the lost root structure as well as providing natural-feeling support for the replacement tooth or teeth. Because these materials are biocompatible, they’re able to naturally fuse with the surrounding bone tissue via a process called osseointegration. Once complete, this process will allow your new smile to function exactly how a natural one does.
The 4-Step Dental Implant Process
To replace missing teeth with dental implants, patients will need to undergo a two-phase treatment process. The initial phase requires the surgical placement of one or more dental implant posts below the gum line. Because dental implants require a surgical procedure, we’ll need to complete a thorough health history prior to recommending this treatment option. As long as you are healthy enough for minimally invasive medical procedures, have not experienced serious concerns related to surgical treatment, and you have adequate jawbone density to support the implant post, we can typically provide dental implants. We can typically work with physicians if you’re taking one or more prescription medication or suffer from an immune-compromising illness like diabetes.
When we determine dental implants are right for you, we can begin the surgical implant placement process. The procedure itself is relatively straightforward. We’ll need to place a small incision in the gum tissue where we’ll insert the dental implant post. As long as there is adequate jawbone density to support the implant, the implant will begin fusing with the bone and gum tissue mimicking the natural root structure. This process is known as osseointegration. If you do not have the adequate bone density to support the implant, we may need to perform a bone graft prior to dental implant placement.
When the osseointegration process is complete, patients will come back to our Franklin dental office where we’ll attach their restoration. For a single missing tooth, patients will have a custom-crafted dental crown attached to their implant using an abutment. The abutment is a connector that is attached prior to the restoration appointment, and used by our dental lab to craft a custom crown. We can also create a same-day dental crown using our CEREC system to complete your dental implants.
Following the placement of the dental implants, patients will need to wait three to six months for the osseointegration process to be completed prior to returning to our dental office where we’ll attach the dental restoration. While this may seem like a huge time commitment, the results are much longer lasting than other dental restoration options.
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Who Dental Implants Can Help
For those patients who have experienced more advanced tooth loss, we offer restoration using dental implant supported prosthetics. Our tooth replacement prosthetics include fixed bridges, partial dentures, and full dentures. These options are able to help people with varying degrees of tooth loss, including those who are missing one or more teeth. No matter how many teeth you’re missing, Dr. Prather will ensure you achieve your desired results.
Who’s a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?
During your consultation, Dr. Prather will look for three important factors:
- Good overall health (you need to be well enough to undergo minor surgery)
- Good oral health (you can’t have issues like cavities or gum disease)
- Sufficient jawbone mass to support dental implants
If you don’t meet these guidelines, you can undergo certain preliminary treatments to prepare for your mouth for dental implants.
Missing 1 Tooth
A traditional fixed bridge combines two dental crowns with one or more replacement teeth. The two crowns are attached to either side of the replacement tooth or teeth and attached to healthy teeth to provide support. Implant bridges are crafted in the same way, but are supported by dental implant posts at each end rather than being attached to healthy teeth.
Missing Multiple Teeth
A partial denture is often referred to simply as a partial and it replaces a number of consecutive or nonconsecutive teeth along an arch. Traditionally, partials were held firmly in position by metal clasps attached to surrounding healthy teeth. Implant dentures are typically anchored into position using four to six implant posts. The number of necessary implant posts depends largely on the location and amount of missing teeth. We’ll use the fewest dental implant posts possible while still providing adequate support for the partial denture.
Missing All Teeth
An entire row of replacement teeth can be replaced with a full denture. While traditional dentures were held in place with suction between the prosthetic and the gum line, dental implants offer a more stable solution. Additionally, the denture itself is much lighter and more natural looking and feeling. We typically use four to six implant posts to support a full denture.
