Dental Implants – Mt. Holly, NJ

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

The first step on your journey towards a restored smile is a consultation with our team at Mt. Holly Family Dentistry. We’ll help you determine whether dental implants are right for you and discuss your medical history, desires and needs, and any diagnostic findings. If necessary, we will incorporate preliminary procedures into your treatment plan to prepare your mouth for dental implant placement. Rest assured – we’ll walk you through the process and the expected overall cost.

Dental Implant Surgery

Since we place our own dental implants, you can expect to receive start-to-finish treatment in one convenient location. We’ll numb your mouth with a local anesthetic and make a small incision in the gum tissue to access your jawbone. Then, we’ll place the implants at precise angles and locations. After your gums are closed, protective caps will be placed over the posts to keep them safe while you heal.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment Placement

For the next three to six months, your implants will fuse with the surrounding bone tissue via a natural process called osseointegration. It’s crucial because it ensures your implant has a sturdy foundation so your replacement teeth can stay firmly in place. Once this process is complete, we can attach small metal connector pieces called abutments.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations

Shortly after your abutment has been placed, your custom-made restorations should be ready. You will return to our office for the placement of your new crown, bridge, or denture. We’ll secure your restoration to your abutments to complete your smile. Before you leave, we’ll make any final adjustments as needed to ensure your bite is comfortable and ready to be put to use!

Day-to-Day Benefits

Since dental implants are surgically inserted into the jawbone, you can enjoy multiple benefits in your day-to-day life, including:

• Ability to eat almost any food. This method of tooth replacement is unique because it restores the entire structure of a missing tooth, from the root up to the chewing surface. As a result, you’ll have unmatched stability and durability. Your dental implants will be able to stand up to the chewing pressure of virtually any food!
• Increased confidence. One of the advantages of dental implants is their ability to give you a smile that looks, feels, and acts just like your old one. Because they’re so similar to natural teeth, you can show off your brand-new grin with confidence!
• Lower maintenance. With dental implants, you don’t have to worry about incorporating complex steps into your oral hygiene routine. All you have to do is care for them in the same you’d care for natural teeth – brushing twice a day, flossing daily, and rinsing regularly!

Health Benefits

The benefits of dental implants go far beyond improving your daily quality of life. You can enjoy significant health advantages as well, such as:

• Jawbone preservation. Since dental implants are placed inside the jawbone, they stimulate it to prevent the bone loss that’s common after tooth loss. Additionally, they help maintain an overall youthful facial shape.
• Prevent dental drift. It’s common for teeth to shift after tooth loss. Luckily, implants can serve as placeholders to ensure every tooth stays exactly where it belongs.
• Improved overall health. Studies show a correlation between tooth loss and an increased risk of multiple health conditions. Because dental implants are so close to natural teeth, it’s safe to say that they can help lower your risk of such diseases.

Long-Term Benefits

Dental implants can provide you with many long-term benefits, including:

• High success rate. Dental implants have an impressive success rate of about 95 percent even 20 years after they’ve been placed.
• Youthful appearance. Because implants stimulate the jawbone, they can prevent the sunken aged look that often accompanies tooth loss.
• Long lifespan. With proper care and maintenance, your new smile can easily last decades! In some cases, it can even last a lifetime.

Who is a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

Not everybody is always a good candidate for the dental implant procedure right off the bat, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t help you get there! Once the implants are placed, they’ll need to undergo a process called osseointegration, which is when they fuse with the jawbone to provide your restorations with strong, stable foundations to be secured to. If your gums and mouth aren’t healthy, this process could fail, which would jeopardize the procedure.

At your initial consultation, we’ll examine your mouth and gums to make sure that they’re healthy. We may suggest preparatory procedures, such as a bone graft, sinus lift, gum disease therapy, or even a tooth extraction to minimize any risk of complications after your surgery. If you have medical conditions that affect your immune system, such as diabetes, we’ll work closely with your primary care physician to ensure that it won’t impact the healing and osseointegration processes. After all, we want you to be able to enjoy your new smile for decades to come!

Based on the findings of your dentist in Mt. Holly during your consultation, we’ll outline a customized treatment plan for you and walk you through it, so you know exactly what to expect throughout the process.

Missing Single Tooth

For a single missing tooth, we’ll place one dental implant in the area below your gumline, restoring the root structure of that tooth. Then, we’ll attach a customized dental crown to fill that gap in your smile and restore the function and appearance of your row of teeth.

Missing Multiple Teeth

Those missing multiple consecutive teeth can benefit from an implant bridge. Instead of buffing down existing teeth, which is typical for a traditional bridge, an implant-supported solution utilizes two dental implants on either end of the gap in your smile. These implants are strong enough to hold a bridge with as many as three teeth!

Missing All of Your Teeth

Much like an implant bridge, an implant denture can replace several teeth at a time without needing an implant for each individual tooth. For example, implant dentures use anywhere between four and six implants to replace the entire arch, ensuring that it remains stable with daily use. Restorations can be made to be either removable or fixed, depending on your preference.

Making Oral Hygiene a Priority

Tooth decay, gum disease, and other oral health problems can cause your implants to fail. This is why it is necessary to maintain good oral hygiene by brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, flossing at least once each day, and rinsing with an ADA-approved mouthwash. This daily routine will help to remove bacteria and food particles that can turn into harmful acids that eat away at natural tooth enamel as well as plaque and tartar that can attack soft oral tissues.

Eating a Healthy Diet

With dental implants in Mt. Holly, you are free to eat whatever foods you like, but it is important that you adopt a nutritious diet and limit your consumption of sugars and starches. Too much candy, sweets, and carbs can cause bacteria to form in the mouth and cause cavities and gum disease over time. Although your dental implants cannot decay, they can be negatively impacted should your gums become inflamed or infected. By eating more foods that contain vitamin C and calcium, you can ensure healthier oral tissues and a stronger jawbone.

Breaking Bad Habits

One of the fastest ways to damage your dental implants is to continue practicing bad habits. Once your prosthetics are in place, you’ll want to give up smoking and/or using tobacco products, quit biting your nails, stop eating ice and chewing on inanimate objects, and never use your teeth to open packages or containers ever again. Not only can these bad habits damage your restoration, but habits like smoking can slow the healing process and make you more vulnerable to infection.

Protecting Your Dental Implants

It is true that your dental implants are highly durable; however, they are not indestructible. As a result, if you play sports or suffer from bruxism at night, you’ll need to speak with your implant dentist in Mt. Holly about receiving a customized mouthguard. This oral appliance will better protect your teeth and gums from potentially damaging situations. With regular wear, you will no longer need to worry about wear and tear to your tooth enamel or more complex damage that can occur on the field, track, or court.

Scheduling Regular Dental Checkups

Your dentist is your friend and ally when it comes to prolonging the lifespan of your dental implants. By choosing to keep your regularly scheduled dental checkups and cleanings, we can review your prosthetics and restorations to ensure no issues are developing. Should we find anything of concern, we can quickly get to work to minimize future issues and address the problem right away. Unless otherwise noted by our team, you can expect to visit our dental office every six months.

Types of Dental Implants

One of the most unique characteristics of the dental implant process is the flexibility it provides patients. Depending on the number of teeth you have missing, the condition of your oral health and the amount of healthy jawbone you have, Dr. Greenberg will suggest the best type of implant to fit your needs.

For example, if you only have one tooth missing, then a single dental implant will suffice. However, if you’re missing a full set of teeth, then you’ll need to receive several strategically placed implants that will attach to a full set of dentures. Because the treatment protocols can vary between patients, Dr. Greenberg will need to perform an assessment so that when you ask, “How much do dental implants cost?” You can get an accurate cost estimate.

What Are the Stages of Dental Implant Treatment?

Dental implants have a 98% success rate at the 10-year mark, and that can greatly be attributed to the fact that each step of the procedure is carefully mapped out, with a cost assigned to each stage.

The procedure includes the following steps:

• Examination – to determine the condition of your oral and overall health
• Restorative care – any care needed to restore your oral health before the dental implant surgery takes place
• Initial implant insertion – to attach the implant to the jawbone and allow it to fuse with it to provide it with stimulation and blood flow
• Abutment placement – a metal connector piece that is attached to the implant after the jaw and gums heal sufficiently
• Restoration placement – a porcelain crown, bridge, or denture is permanently attached to the implants

Are Dental Implants Worth the Investment?

There are several factors that make the dental implant procedure a worthwhile investment. For starters, it’s the only form of tooth replacement that addresses the entire tooth structure, from the root to the crown. Furthermore, it doesn’t require the alteration of any of the surrounding teeth, which can help to fortify your oral health as a whole.

Then, when you consider the fact that with a new dental implant, you can regain up to 95% of your original chewing capacity, you just can’t go wrong with having the titanium fixture placed. Another benefit is that with proper care, your new implant can last from 25 years to a lifetime.

Does Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?

In most cases, dental insurance won’t cover the cost of dental implant placement. Depending on who you’re insured with and the type of plan you have, you may be able to apply your coverage to any restorative treatments needed before an implant can be placed. In situations like these, you can expect your dental insurance to cover up to 50% of the related costs, depending on the stipulations within your plan.

To make sure that we’re in network with your dental insurance, feel free to contact us. After we’ve verified your coverage and you’ve been examined, we can move forward with rebuilding your smile and confidence!