Many people suffer problems from having missing teeth. Whether it's affecting your  chewing, speech, self confidence or facial structure, the consequences are long term.

What is an implant?
A dental implant is a substitute for both tooth and root. A titanium cylinder is implanted into the jaw bone and, once healed, used to screw on a crown, part of a bridge or a structure to support a denture.

Why is it better than other treatment?
Once you lose a tooth the bone that previously surrounded it starts to shrink. Dentures are a good temporary measure but they will become unstable over time. The implanted screw becomes a solid foundation for both the new tooth and the jaw bone around it.

Using implants also means that surrounding healthy teeth are not affected. There is no longer a need to grind down the adjacent teeth when fitting a bridge or to fit clasps for partial dentures. You can also replace single teeth very easily.

How will it help me?
Missing back teeth can cause problems with chewing or facial structure. Implants can cure the problem.

Missing front teeth will affect your smile. Implants can cure the problem without affecting other healthy teeth.

Losing all the teeth often means using a removable denture. Implants take away the need for this by making a fixed bridge possible.

Often, when the jawbone shrinks, dentures become loose causing problems with speech and chewing. Implants can cure the problem by holding the denture firmly in place,

Does it hurt?
No. The process fitting the implants is carried out under local anesthetic and light sedation. 98% of patients have suffered little or no discomfort and the other 2% have only needed to take normal pain killers over the following 24 hours.

Smoking adversely affects healing throughout the body and especially so in the mouth. To aid healing, smoking should be stopped or drastically reduced.

Once the area around the cylinder is healed, the new tooth is fitted without any need for local anesthetic.

How long will they last?
Implants need particular cleaning techniques which differ from those of natural teeth. As long as you take care of them the implants should last many years.

What will they look like?
Implants are the closest replacement possible to natural teeth.  We aim to make them look exactly like your existing teeth and hopefully no-one will know the difference.

For more information and to see if implants are the right option for you, click here to be forwarded to our dental implants site

If you would like more information or a free consultation then contact us.