Dental Implants Jacksonville
Fully Restoring Your Smile and Boosting Your Oral Health
Even after your teeth have been replaced with dentures or a bridge, you’ll likely find that your smile still isn’t as comfortable and lifelike as you’d prefer. Or perhaps you’ve just recently lost teeth and you’re looking for a superior tooth replacement solution that’s as close to the real thing as possible. In either case, you should speak with our team at Baldwin Dental of Jacksonville about dental implants. These long-lasting titanium posts will make it look and feel like you’ve turned back the clock on your grin – to the point where it’s almost like you didn’t lose a tooth in the first place!
Why Choose Baldwin Dental of Jacksonville for Dental Implants?
- Complete Dental Implant Service Under One Roof
- High-Quality, Long-Lasting Restorations
- Dental Team That Prioritizes Patient Comfort
What Is a Dental Implant?
A dental implant is a post, usually made out of titanium due to its biocompatibility, that is surgically placed in the jawbone. It’s able to fuse with the surrounding tissue through a process called osseointegration. From there, it can act as an artificial root for a crown, denture, or another type of custom-made restoration. In other words, dental implants don’t replace the entire tooth; they replace the root structure and support the prosthetic that you’ll use for biting, chewing, speaking, and smiling!
The 4-Step Dental Implant Process
Dental implants are the best tooth replacement option out there. Thanks to their unique ability to replace the roots of the missing teeth, they allow for a wide range of additional benefits, like comfort, stability, and longevity. To achieve this, they require a multi-step process that takes place over the course of several months. Everyone’s treatment looks a little bit different, but here are the four main steps that everyone can expect.
Initial Consultation
The first step when getting dental implants is your initial consultation. You’ll meet with our team, and we’ll assess your tooth loss before confirming that you’re a good candidate for the procedure. Some patients might need a preliminary procedure before they can receive implants. If this applies to you, we will help you get this scheduled. Once your gums and jaw are in good shape, we can move onto planning the rest of your treatment.
Dental Implant Surgery
We can complete the dental implant process in-house, meaning you won’t have to worry about coordinating with other offices. As for the surgery itself, you’ll be fully numbed and sedated and it takes about an hour to place a single implant. Your dentist will make an incision in the gums so your dental implants can be placed at precise angles. Afterward, the gums are closed up and protective caps are placed over the ends of the implants to keep them safe as the area heals.
Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment
The implant posts will need a few months to fully heal and fuse with your jawbone in a profess called “osseointegration.” During this time, you’ll need to follow specific guidelines. Once this has happened, you’ll come back for a second, smaller procedure where we’ll place your abutments. Impressions are taken so your new restoration can be customized for you at the dental lab.
Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations
Once your restoration is complete, it will be time for you to return to our office. The custom-made dental restoration is attached to the top of the abutments, and you’ll finally have a fully functional and complete smile once more. If everything looks and feels great, you will be free to show off your new and improved smile to the world.
Benefits of Dental Implants
Since more than half a million dental implants are placed each year, these remarkable prosthetic devices are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to replace lost teeth. Since they are surgically placed directly in the jaw and fused with their surrounding bone tissue through the natural process of osseointegration, they look, feel, and function just like real teeth. Here’s a brief guide to how dental implants from Baldwin Dental of Jacksonville can enhance your health, confidence, and quality of life.
Day-to-Day Benefits
After receiving dental implants, you may notice several improvements in your day-to-day life such as:
- Perfectly lifelike restorations that allow you to smile without allowing anyone to know that any of your teeth have been replaced.
- The ability to thoroughly chew all sorts of foods like steak, corn-on-the-cob, and popcorn without worrying about your restored teeth sliding out of place.
- Brushing and flossing your dental implants just like real teeth, meaning that you won’t have to deal with the elaborate soaking and cleaning rituals that come with traditional restorations like dentures.
- The stability you need to smile and speak confidently without fear of your teeth sliding out of place or even falling out of your mouth, which can save you much embarrassment.
- Giving the patient a smile they will be proud to show off, which can help them present a favorable appearance at work and in social situations.
Health Benefits
Dental implants also offer a range of significant benefits for your oral and overall health like:
- Being easy to keep clean, which can help you prevent oral infections.
- Giving the jawbone the exercise it needs to stay healthy and strong, which can prevent or even reverse the process of bone loss in the jaw that happens after tooth loss.
- Improved chewing power makes it easier to enjoy the diverse and nutritious diet your body needs for good health and comfortable digestion.
- Securely holding your restorations in place, meaning that you won’t have to worry about your denture or bridge sliding about in your mouth, which can cause oral irritation or injuries.
Long-Term Benefits
Dental implants can deliver a few significant long-term health benefits including:
- Being 95% successful even ten years after placement, making them a sound investment in your oral health.
- Preserving the health of the jawbone, which can prevent further tooth loss and keep the mouth from developing an unsightly sunken appearance.
- Lasting for decades or possibly a lifetime if they receive excellent care, which can save the patient thousands of dollars by negating the need for expensive replacement restorations.
Who Dental Implants Can Help
You need to be missing at least one tooth to be considered a candidate for dental implants. Our team will also need to evaluate your oral health to decide whether any preparatory treatments are required, such as periodontal therapy to take care of existing gum disease, or a supplemental bone graft to fortify your jawbone’s density. When the time comes to plan the actual implant procedure, the treatment will be altered slightly depending on how many teeth are missing.
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Missing One Tooth
When only one tooth needs to be replaced, the math is fairly simple: a single implant for a single gap. A dental crown made out of lifelike ceramic material will be attached to the implant so that the new replacement tooth blends in perfectly with the rest of your natural grin.
Missing Multiple Teeth
Multiple dental implants can be used to replace many teeth at once. For example, if three or more teeth in a row have been lost, a dental bridge can be supported by a pair of dental implants. Unlike a traditional bridge, implant bridges don’t require us to make any permanent changes to your remaining natural teeth.
Missing All of Your Teeth
If you’re tired of dentures that constantly must be adjusted or repaired, you can consider having them attached to implants. While some implant dentures are designed to be removable, in most cases they’ll be permanently fixed in place. Normally, the fewest number of implant posts required to support your dentures will be between four and eight. They can fully support a custom-made full denture on one or both arches as needed.
All-on-4 Dental Implants
By replacing all of your teeth with the fewest number of implants, we can simplify the entire process and give your mouth a chance to heal much faster. The All-on-4 technique relies on four strategically placed implant posts and also offers better stability right away, to the point where it’s often possible to give you your temporary dentures on the same day as the appointment.
Mini Dental Implants
Since mini dental implants don’t require as much bone density for support, they can be a viable option for anyone who has already experienced bone loss and doesn’t want to have bone grafting performed. Our team can explain the difference between mini-implants and traditional implants during a regular consultation; don’t hesitate to ask about this option.
Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants
Since dental implant placement is such a customizable and complex treatment, it can be hard to know how much it will cost until your first consultation. Simply put, every smile is different; the number of implants and the need for preparatory treatments will have to be considered to figure out the true price. For many patients, the numerous advantages of implants are well worth the investment, especially since the posts, if properly cared for, will last far longer than traditional restorations!