IMPLANT DENTISTRY

What are dental implants?

Dental implants is a way of artificially replacing roots of missing teeth. They are a means of providing support for implant-supported crowns and bridges. They require a dentist to surgically insert titanium screws into your bone.

Dental implants are commonly preferred over dentures or bridges as they are seen as more comfortable and convenient as they don’t have to be removed and remain stable even when chewing.

What happens during dental implant surgery?

Our dentist will first perform a comprehensive examination in order to determine whether you are suitable for dental implant surgery.

Some patients who are candidates for dental implants are patients that:

  • Have missing teeth
  • Have gums and teeth that are healthy enough to withstand surgery
  • Are healthy enough and don’t have other ongoing health conditions that prevent them from undergoing surgery or might affect post-surgical healing

If you are a suitable candidate, our dentist will prepare you for the procedure by first taking impressions of your teeth and your gums for our in-house laboratory to make a model. A 3D X-ray of your jaw will also be taken at our clinic.

After anesthesia has been applied, our dentist will make incisions on the gums at the implant site in order to expose the bone. The dentist will drill a space in your bone so that the implant can be inserted. After the implant is inserted, the dentist will stitch the gums back together.

What sort of anaesthetic is used?

For implant dentistry, only local anaesthesia is needed.

Is there any downtime? What are the post-surgery procedures?

After the surgery, you will generally face some discomfort at the implant site. Swelling, bruising, bleeding and some pain is to be expected. Our dentist will prescribe a course of antibiotics as well as painkillers in order to manage the healing process (about 3 to 7 days).

Depending on the individual, dental implants can take about a week to fully recover and as for the implant to be stable, it takes about 3 to 6 months. After recovery, our laboratory will fabricate a dental crown to be placed on top of the implant.

Will there be post-surgery complications?

Majority of the patients recover within the normal recovery time frame. In some exceptional cases, where the dental implants fail, arising from infection around the implant site or if their bites are not adjusted properly. This might also contribute to the implant failing.

In order to reduce the risk, observe good dental hygiene habits and adhere to the follow up schedule prescribed by our dentist. Avoid putting unnecessary pressure on your implant by grinding your teeth or eating overly hard foods.