Dental Implants, Baltimore Maryland

A dental implant is a small titanium cylinder that replaces a missing natural tooth root. The implant is placed in your jawbone and the surrounding bone fuses with the titanium implant, creating a strong foundation for replacement teeth (also referred to as artificial teeth, crowns, prosthesis, restorations) that look, feel, and function like natural teeth. Crowns supported by implants look and feel natural. Also, the implants prevent bone loss that occurs when teeth are missing, resulting in the preservation of facial contours. Patients with dental implants can smile and eat with confidence.

History of Dental Implants

Dr. Per-Ingvar Branemark, a Swedish scientist and orthopedic surgeon, developed the concept of oral rehabilitation with dental implants more than 35 years ago. With his pioneering research, Dr. Branemark opened the door to a lifetime of renewed comfort and self-confidence for millions of individuals facing the frustration and embarrassment of tooth loss. Dental implants can be your doorway to renewed self-confidence and peace of mind.

The Implant Procedure

For most patients, the placement of a dental implant involves a single surgical procedure. First, the implant is placed within your jawbone and a healing cap is placed that is flush with your gum tissue. During the three months following surgery, the implant gradually fuses with the surrounding bone. You can wear temporary dentures during this time so that you will not have to go without teeth.

After the implant has bonded to your jawbone, your dentist will remove the healing cap and attach a small post that projects through the gum tissue and acts as an anchor for the artificial tooth. When the artificial tooth is placed, this post will not be seen. The entire process usually takes four to five months. Most patients experience minimal disruption in their daily lives throughout the implant procedure.

Surgical Advances in Dental Implants

Using the most recent advances in dental implant technology, we are able to place a temporary artificial tooth on the implant the same day the implant is placed. There are even situations where the implants can be placed at the same time as a tooth extraction, further minimizing the number of surgical procedures.

Dental implant placement is a team effort between an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and your restorative dentist. While we perform the actual implant surgery, initial tooth extractions, and bone grafting if necessary, your dentist fits and makes the permanent artificial tooth. Your dentist will also make any temporary artificial teeth needed during the implant process.

A single restoration or prosthesis (crown) is used to replace one missing tooth – each prosthetic tooth attaches to its own implant. A partial prosthesis (fixed bridge) can replace two or more teeth and may require only two or three implants. A complete fixed dental prosthesis can replace all the teeth in your upper and/or lower jaw. The number of implants varies depending upon which type of complete prosthesis is recommended. A removable prosthesis (over denture) clips on to retentive posts, whereas a fixed prosthesis is permanently attached to the implants and removed only by your dentist.

The Oral Surgeons at Maryland OMS Center perform implant surgery in our office in a hospital-style operating suite, optimizing the level of sterility. Inpatient hospital implant surgery is reserved for patients who have special medical or anesthetic needs or for those who need extensive bone grafting with bone harvested from the jaw or hip.

What are the Benefits of Dental Implants?
If you have lost several teeth – whether recently or years ago– chances are you have never become fully accustomed to losing such a vital part of yourself. Unpleasant consequences of losing teeth include self-consciousness about your smile, embarrassment from loose-fitting dentures, and pain or difficulty with eating. Dental implants are an effective, safe, and predictable solution to these problems resulting from missing teeth. Patients report exciting benefits from dental implants, such as:

• improved cosmetic appearance
• the ability to chew without pain or gum irritation
•  improved taste and appetite
•  prevention of bone loss associated with missing teeth

Dental implants are an investment in your health as well as your appearance. A full set of teeth makes eating pleasurable again, making it easier to eat a balanced, healthy diet. A full set of teeth also preserves the contours of the face, keeping you from looking old before your time.

Are You A Candidate For Implants?
Anyone who is missing one or more teeth due to injury, disease, or tooth decay may be a candidate for dental implants. The determining factor is the amount of available bone. If you are considering implants, we will review your medical and dental history, procure the appropriate x-rays, and develop a detailed treatment plan in consultation with your referring dentist.

Occasionally, older patients express concern that their age prevents them from enjoying the benefits of dental implants. However, health is more of a determining factor than age. If you are healthy enough to have a tooth extracted, you are probably healthy enough to receive dental implants.

What Type Of Anesthesia Is Used?
The majority of dental implant procedures can be performed in the office under local anesthesia. We also offer IV sedation and general anesthesia for more advanced implant cases.

Do Implants Need Special Care?
Once the implants are placed, they will serve you well for many years with proper oral care. It is most important to maintain good oral hygiene (brushing and flossing) and to keep regular appointments with your general dentist and dental specialists.

How Much do Dental Implants Cost?
The fee for dental implants depends on several factors, including the number of teeth replaced and the number of dental implants required to support your replacement teeth. Some additional procedures, such as bone grafting to prepare the site, may be required prior to the placement of the dental implants.

Continuing Cost of Bridges and Removable Dentures

While conventional bridges and dentures initially are less expensive than dental implants, both options can have considerable continuing expenses. To place a bridge, the teeth adjacent to the missing teeth are cut down, which can lead to weakness of these abutment teeth and the possible need for root canal therapy. While dental implants preserve bone, dentures cause the jaw-bone to shrink over time, leading to a poor denture fit.  Over a lifetime, dental implants are the most cost-effective and esthetic choice to replace missing teeth.

Financing Dental Implants

First, our office will check with your dental or medical insurance carrier to see what benefits you may have for dental implants.

There are health care credit companies that offer no-interest and low-interest loans for dental and medical procedures including dental implants.

You’ll want to discuss all your options with your dentist and with us, but don’t let the initial cost discourage you from getting dental implants.

Teeth-In-An-Hour

Our office offers TEETH-IN-AN-HOUR™,  a revolutionary concept providing patients with fully functioning prosthetic teeth along with dental implants. The name reflects the length of the procedure: it takes about one hour to place the dental implants. This technology was recently developed by Nobel Biocare and requires collaboration between the restorative dentist, dental laboratory, and the oral & maxillofacial surgeon. This merging of knowledge and experience achieves extremely precise implant placement. A  computer-guided implant surgery is performed without making an incision or gum flap reflection, so there is less postoperative discomfort, swelling, and bruising. Patients can often resume their normal activities the next day.

The process starts by taking a computed tomography (CT) scan of the patient's jaws. The CT data is used to generate a virtual three-dimensional model of the jawbone that can then be used to plan the placement of the dental implants in relation to the final prosthesis. A surgical template generated from the virtual plan is used during surgery to prepare the implant sites and to precisely place the implants.

Click Here to Download our Computer-Aided Dental Implant Planning document