Dental Implants — Prince Albert, SK

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

During an initial consultation, one of our experts will carefully review your oral health and medical history to see if dental implants are right for you. This involves an examination of your teeth, gums, and mouth, including X-rays. If necessary, we may recommend preliminary procedures like tooth extractions, gum disease therapy, or bone grafting. From there, we can develop your personalized treatment plan that includes important information like timeline and cost.

Dental Implant Surgery

After any preliminary treatments are completed, you’ll visit an implant dentist in Prince Albert for surgery. Each specialist that we partner with has performed the treatment countless times and has undergone years of hospital-based training to gain their expertise. They will ensure that you’re numb and comfortable before making an incision in the gums. Typically, they will offer different forms of anesthesia or sedation to keep you relaxed during the minor surgery. Next, small holes are created, which are used for the placement of dental implants in Prince Albert. Then, the implant specialist will close your gums and protect the implants with temporary caps.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment Placement

After surgery, you’ll begin a healing process called osseointegration that will take between 3 to 6 months. During osseointegration, the dental implants fuse to the jawbone to become a permanent part of your body. While it does take some time, this unique healing process is precisely what makes dental implants so strong and lifelike. Once your implants are completely healed, small connectors (abutments) are placed on top of them to accommodate your restorations. As you heal over the next few weeks, we will create your final restorations based on impressions of your mouth for completely customized results.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations

After the other steps are completed, all that’s left to do is to visit our office for the delivery of your final implant restorations. Whether you need a dental crown, bridge, or denture will all depend on the number of teeth that you’re missing. Once your restorations are placed, we will ensure that you’re happy with your results, and that your bite is comfortable as well as natural. From there, you can leave our office with a lifelike, fully restored set of teeth.

Lifestyle Benefits

You’ll be using your dental implants on a daily basis for eating and speaking, and as such there are many benefits that you’ll notice regularly.

• No Dietary Limitations: Since dental implants replace the entire structure of a missing tooth – including the roots – they are as stable as real teeth and offer comparable chewing power. That means you’ll be able to eat virtually anything you want again, including the tough-to-chew foods that give traditional denture-wearers trouble.
• Improved Speech: Dental implants prevent dentures and other restorations from slipping or moving around in the mouth. This makes it easy to speak clearly and comfortably at all times, whether it’s just a casual chat with people you know or a lengthy conversation with clients or coworkers.
• Enhanced Confidence: Implant posts become part of your body after osseointegration, meaning they feel very natural in your mouth. The restorations attached to them will be carefully designed so as to be indistinguishable from your natural teeth. When your new teeth look and feel like the real thing, it’s easier to smile with confidence.
• Easy Oral Hygiene: Taking care of your dental implants is simple since you only need to brush and floss as you normally would. In generally, maintenance for dental implants is not much different than caring for natural teeth.

Health Benefits

The advantages of dental implants in Prince Albert include many health advantages that benefit your mouth in the long term.

• Stronger, Healthier Jawbone: The jawbone starts to weaken and break down once it no longer receives the stimulation provided by natural teeth. But since implants take the place of tooth roots, they can actively help prevent bone loss, allowing the jaw to maintain its shape and strength.
• Keep the Natural Teeth Safe: The natural teeth tend to drift out of place after tooth loss, but the placement of a dental implant will help ensure that they all stay properly aligned.
• Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle: Dental implants make it easier to keep your body healthy thanks to the lack of dietary limitations. Since you can eat virtually anything, there’s nothing preventing you from maintaining a nutritious diet.

Long-Term Benefits

Dental implants will continue to help you for many years to come, and these long-term benefits illustrate the value of such an investment.

• High Success Rate: About 95 percent of dental implants will continue to stay in the mouth without needing to be removed even after 20 years.
• Long Lifespan: It is not unusual for a dental implant post to last for the rest of a patient’s life thanks to its durability.
• Youthful Appearance: Implants stimulate blood flow in the jaw to prevent deterioration, and as a result your jaw will maintain its youthful appearance for a long period of time.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

The majority of adults can receive dental implants to replace missing teeth. However, our team will need to consider certain qualities that will determine if you would be eligible for the treatment, including:

• Good Overall Health: Dental implants involve a minor surgical procedure, meaning that you’ll need to be adequately healthy to undergo the process and recover properly.
• Great Oral Health: Your smile will need to be free of any underlying complications, such as decay, cavities, and gum disease, before moving forward with dental implant placement. Otherwise, you could be at a higher risk of treatment failure.
• Sufficient Jawbone Mass: Dental implants need to fuse with your jawbone to create the lifelike and stable foundation needed for long-lasting restorations. The more bone density you have, the higher the chance of treatment success.

Even if you aren’t currently eligible for dental implants, our team can help prepare you for the process with preliminary procedures. These could involve gum disease treatment, bone grafting, or tooth extractions—whatever is necessary to ensure that you can make the most of your brand-new smile for decades to come.

Missing One Tooth

If you’re missing a single tooth, you can get a titanium post embedded into your jawbone and allow it to heal and fuse with the bone tissue via osseointegration. Afterward, we’ll place an abutment—a small metal connector piece—which will link a dental crown to your implant. Your restoration will be tooth-colored, meaning you can enjoy a natural-looking solution.

Missing Multiple Teeth

Instead of a single post, you can receive more than one to replace several missing teeth in a row with a dental bridge. This can allow you to fill in wider gaps in your smile while also preserving the structure of your nearby pearly whites. An implant bridge can also typically replace more missing teeth than a traditional one, as it’ll be directly anchored to your jawbone instead of relying on your adjacent natural teeth.

Missing All Teeth

Even if you already have a traditional denture, our team can help you customize it so that you can have it supported by dental implants instead of your gum line. As long as you have healthy gums and sufficient jawbone mass, you’ll be eligible for implant dentures, allowing you to rebuild an entire arch and enjoy incredibly stable and natural-feeling results.

Learn More About Implant Dentures

Make Oral Hygiene a Priority

Since implants are made of titanium and porcelain, they don’t decay or get cavities. However, it’s still vital that you practice great oral hygiene.

 

You see, implants depend on healthy teeth and gums. Dental issues could cause them to loosen and fail in some cases. For instance, gum disease could erode the bone tissue supporting your prosthetic. A tooth infection could also affect an implant’s nearby gum tissue.

 

To prevent these outcomes, remember to make oral care a priority. In particular, brush twice daily, floss once daily, and rinse with mouthwash as needed.

 

Eat a Healthy Diet

Implants restore much of your bite force, so they generally let you eat as you like. Even so, you really should stick to a mouth-healthy diet in the future.

 

The simple fact is that some foods are risky for implants. Hard items – pretzels, jawbreakers, nuts, etc. – can chip the prosthetics. Similarly, sticky and sugary stuff decays teeth and increases implant failure risk.

 

In contrast, foods with mouth-healthy nutrients help implants. Those with calcium and vitamin C, especially, keep your jawbone strong and your gum tissues healthy.

 

Break Bad Habits

Though durable, implants can break or fail from bad oral habits. You’d be wise to give up the latter to protect the former.

 

For example, quit smoking if possible. Tobacco products slow your recovery from implant surgery. They also encourage gum disease, a condition that causes implant failure.

 

Chewing hard objects is another habit you ought to quit. You may chip your implants, whether you’re biting on fingernails or ice cubes.

 

Protect Your Dental Implants

Implants will break if they suffer from enough force or trauma. After all, they aren’t invincible or indestructible. That being the case, take steps to protect them with good dental tools.

 

The best approach you could take is to wear an oral appliance. With a sports mouthguard, you would protect your implants from sports-related dental injuries. On the other hand, a nightguard would prevent teeth grinding while you sleep. Clearly, then, the right mouth gear can keep implants safe.

Schedule Regular Dental Checkups

However careful you might be, caring for your implants alone is impossible. You’ll inevitably miss certain signs and issues. Therefore, remember to attend dental checkups and cleanings every six months. Doing so ensures your implants will last a long while.

 

Don’t forget: checkups and cleanings are the top forms of oral preventive care. By attending them, your dentist can diagnose and treat problems before things get worse. They’ll thus prevent oral conditions from threatening your implants.

Are Dental Implants Worth the Investment?

Dental implants are among the most popular tooth replacement solutions available today, with roughly half a million Americans undergoing implant treatment each year. As the only way to restore missing teeth from the roots up, dental implants provide unmatched stability for a dental crown, bridge, or denture. Unlike traditional dental prostheses, however, dental implants do not have to be replaced every few years. In fact, with proper care, your dental implants can last for decades – perhaps even the rest of your life! For this reason, even if the upfront cost for implants is higher than other restorative options, you may actually end up saving money in the long term.

Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?

Although every plan is different, most dental insurance plans do not cover the full cost of dental implants. However, you may still be able to rely on your insurance to reduce the out-of-pocket costs for certain aspects of your treatment plan. Preparatory bone grafts, extractions, gum disease therapy, or dental sedation during the placement procedure may all be covered by your insurance. If you would like help understanding the details of your insurance plan, feel free to contact our team! We are in-network with many of the biggest insurance providers and always work to ensure our patients receive the maximum benefits to which they are entitled.

Does Getting Dental Implants Hurt?

Before the surgery begins, your mouth will be numbed with local anesthetic. There is also sedation offered for a greater sense of relaxation. Plus, your jawbone doesn’t contain very many pain-sensing nerves, making the procedure more comfortable than you may have guessed. The only pain you will feel is some slight soreness after the surgery, which can be managed with prescription or over-the-counter pain medication. If this soreness doesn’t improve after 2 to 3 days, call us right away!

How Successful Are Dental Implants?

One of the reasons why dental implants are so popular is their reliability. When placed by a professional, dental implants enjoy a success rate of over 95%. That said, the success of your implants will directly depend on how well you take care of them with at-home dental hygiene, regular visits to our office, a healthy diet, and more. If you play sports or participate in physical activity, investing in a mouthguard will dramatically lower your risk of damaging your smile.

Will I Have to Take Off Work for Dental Implant Surgery?

For dental implant surgery, most patients only need to take 1 to 3 days off at most. In fact, if you don’t like missing out on work or weekday activities, you can schedule your surgery on a Friday to give yourself the weekend to recover. However, every case is different, which is why we’ll give you a recovery recommendation based on your specific smile. If you have a job that is physically demanding, or requires manual labor, it’s a good idea to give yourself at least 3 to 4 days off because exercise slows down the healing process.

Will People Be Able to Tell That I Have Dental Implants?

Once your implants are placed, we’ll take special images and impressions of your natural teeth, which are used to create your personalized restorations. Whether it’s a crown, bridge, or denture, Dr. Janzen will always make sure that your implant replacement seamlessly blends in with the rest of your smile. Additionally, dental implants are rooted in the jawbone, allowing them to mimic the way that your natural teeth emerge from your gums.

Do Dental Implants Decay?

Dental implants are made of artificial materials, so they won’t be affected by cavities or decay. That said, the surrounding teeth and gum disease can still get decayed or infected, which is why it’s so important to maintain good oral hygiene even with dental implants. Brush, floss, visit our office regularly, and follow any other maintenance instructions we give you to keep your smile healthy.