Dental Implants Procedure

[Kamal]

Hi

I have a crown on my front tooth that I had for over 25 years. Recently my dentist told me that the root is now broken with some infection and the root needs to be removed and I should have a dental implant.

I would like to know what is the procedure for having dental Implants placed? Roughly how many appointments will I need? How long is the whole implant treatment likely to take? What is the success rate with dental implants?

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

The procedure and the length of time it takes for a dental implant placement to be completed depends on the level of infection you have had and subsequent damage that has been done to your bone.

Let say that the infection you have had which resulted in the loss of your tooth has not caused much damage to your bone/or minimal damage is caused that can be treated with bone grafting at the time of implant placement. In other words there is enough bone to get primary stabaility of the implant and minimal bone deficiencies are treated at the same time with BioOss. the norme for these cases is that the tooth is first extracted and then no treatment for 6-8 weeks.

After this period the impalnts are palced and then wait for 8-10 weeks. At this level then the implants are loaded, which means they get the final crown on top. The loading or placement of the crowns is completed within 2 weeks.
Thus:
1- extraction if needed
2- 4 weeks later placement of implants
3- Placeent of permanent crown 2 weeks after implant placement.

If there has been substantial bone loss and extensive bone grafting/or augmentation of bone is needed, then the whole procedure could take much longer and can last up to a year depending on the number of implants placed. Otherwise the procedure is the same with the difference of a 6 months waiting period for bone augmentaion to take place and oseointegrate before any implant placement can be considered.

In simple cases where substantial bone grafting is not needed then treatment can be done within 10 weeks and needing more than 5-6 visits inclusive of review appointments.