What Are Dental Implants?

Dental implants are essentially replacement teeth that take the place of missing teeth. Implants are made of titanium, a metal that is very commonly used in medical and dental procedures due to its compatibility with the human body and ability to integrate with human bones during the healing process. Though the technology to produce them has been in use since the mid-1960s, they have recently grown in both popularity and availability because they provide a simple, safe solution to give patients who are missing teeth a natural-looking smile.

Dental implants are used for the following reasons:

  • To support crowns that replace individual missing teeth
  • To support bridges that span the gap where several teeth are missing
  • To support dentures

What Are the Advantages of Dental Implants?

There are several unique advantages that dental implants have over traditional crowns, bridges, and dentures. At Empress Walk Dental, we recommend dental implants for the following reasons:

  • Implants have the same appearance and feel as a regular human tooth.
  • With implants, the patient will not have any issues with eating or keeping their teeth clean because they can treat their implants the same way they do their natural teeth.
  • Unlike some dentures, dental implants do not require specialized glues to remain in position.
  • If the patient happens to also have removable dentures, the implants can help give those dentures a solid grip inside the mouth.
  • Since dental implants take the place of the natural teeth, they protect the bone structure within the patient’s jaws and face and function in the same way as natural teeth, which encourage the innate bone renewal process. With dental implants, the patient’s face and teeth maintain an attractive appearance.
  • There is no need to file down neighboring healthy teeth as a support system for the implant, reducing the odds of those teeth needing root fillings.
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What Is a Dental Implant Made Of?

Dental implants are created from titanium and are typically in the shape of either a screw or a tube. They measure between 8-16 mm long depending upon the needs of the patient. When your Empress Walk Dental dentist installs your dental implant, the implant will be placed into a special space within the jawbone so that it can serve as a stand-in root for the absent tooth. From there, your dentist will connect the dental implant with the crown, bridge, and/or denture that it is supporting by means of an attachment called an abutment. Throughout the healing process, the jawbone will slowly incorporate the implant’s titanium exterior into the rest of the bone. This phenomenon, which is sometimes known by its more technical name of osseointegration, occurs over the course of 3-6 months. Once the osseointegration process is complete, the implant will be ready to take on the weight of one or more false teeth.

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Am I A Candidate for Dental Implants?

Empress Walk Dental dentists recommend dental implants for patients who:

  • Are missing one or more teeth
  • Want to be able to chew properly and/or want to enhance the aesthetic appeal of their smile
  • Are at least 18 years of age (and therefore finished growing)
  • Have a healthy mouth, with no gum disease (which can cause an infection to grow around the implant, resulting in the implant failing to integrate into the mouth and needing to have it taken out) or tooth decay
  • Maintain good oral hygiene habits, which are critical to the success of dental implants over a patient’s lifetime

Once you have received your dental implants from Empress Walk Dental, we will schedule a series of regular follow-up visits so that your dentist can monitor the healing process and make sure that you do not experience any preventable complications.

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Are There Situations Where Dental Implants May Not Be Appropriate?

At Empress Walk Dental, we have put a lot of time and effort into learning everything we can about how to help our patients. Sometimes, this means we have to deliver the news to a patient that the treatment they want is not recommended for their particular situation. Some situations where we strongly recommend against dental implants are:

  • If the patient’s jaw bone is too thin to support implants, and there is no feasible way to graft bone from elsewhere to thicken the bone
  • If the patient is a smoker (smokers do not rehabilitate from procedures as quickly as nonsmokers)
  • If the patient is experiencing periodontitis, which can cause infections in the dental implants if allowed to go unchecked
  • If the patient has untreated diabetes, which can lead to poor healing and/or infection
  • If the patient has any of the following medical conditions:- Drug abuse
    – Severe systemic illnesses
    – Immune system deficiencies
    – Certain bone diseases
    – Blood clotting disorders
    – Serious systemic diseases
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If you are questioning whether or not you might be eligible for dental implants, please contact us today at Empress Walk Dental to schedule your consultation. Your Empress Dental dentist will be happy to give you an unbiased recommendation for the best course of action for your treatment.

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Our Office

5095 Yonge St, Unit A1, North York, ON M2N 6Z4

Phone

(416) 250-8000

We provide free parking to our patients

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