Dental Implants

People lose teeth for many different reasons, i.e., trauma (when teeth are knocked out) or due to decay, gum disease, or old age.

Whatever the reason for losing your teeth, they ideally need to be replaced, both for aesthetic and functional reasons. At Caversham Heights Dental Practice, our friendly dentists will help you in finding the best solution for your teeth. One option is a dental implant. Other options include dentures or bridges. Dental implants are becoming a more popular choice as they provide a long-term solution, slow down bone loss, and preserve nearby healthy gum tissue.

A dental implant is an artificial substitute/replacement for the root portion of your natural tooth made of a titanium screw anchored into a socket drilled in your jawbone. Once the bone has healed, it can support single or multiple crowns. The benefit of an implant is that, like a bridge, it is fixed in the mouth. Our fantastic implantologists offer consultations to discuss this treatment further.

During the placement of a dental implant, the goal is to achieve close contact between the outer surface of the implant and the surrounding bone tissue so they can “fuse” together (osseointegration), creating a stable support for your new tooth/teeth.

If a tooth has been lost for a long time or if the tooth to be removed has an infection on it, sometimes more bone is required to place the implant. A bone graft can be undertaken, either at a separate appointment from the implant placement or during implant placement, if less bone is needed. The graft can come from your own bone or animal origin.

Types of Dental Implants

Here at Caversham Heights Dental Practice, we can offer three main types of dental implants to give you a secure set of new teeth that you can eat, smile and talk confidently, all in one day. Replacing a full set of missing teeth is what we do best, and the treatments that we provide are always life-changing.

• SynCone: These are implant-retained dentures using a newer technique called “SynCone.” Between 4 (lower jaw) to 6 (upper jaw), the dental implants are placed in the jawbone, which has tapered posts fitted to them. These tapered posts that are attached to the implants lock tightly into place with a coping (cap) that is fabricated into the base of the denture. This tight connection between the post and the cap helps to support and secure the denture for use on the same day.
• All-on-4: The second technique is the All-on-4 implant system, where a fixed bridge or denture components are fitted on 4 dental implants. This is sometimes referred to as “fixed teeth in a day.”
• Fixed Implant-supported Porcelain Bridges: These are custom-made dental bridges that can adapt to almost every situation. Usually, 6-8 implants will be needed in both the upper and lower jaw to support this bridge. They represent the gold standard in tooth replacement and offer the patient the most natural, life-like feel to their replacement teeth.

Our dentist will discuss the pros and cons of your treatment options so that you can make an informed choice of the best treatment for your situation.