Dental Implants Fulshear
Where Permanence & Stability Come Together
When choosing how to replace your missing teeth, you may find that more traditional options are not what you want to invest in. Knowing their temporary livelihood will have you seeking a replacement within just a few years, you turn to dental implants in Fulshear because of their permanence and stability. At Villagio Family & Cosmetic Dental, our team of experts is here to ensure the health and vitality of your new smile so that it looks beautiful, functions properly, and lasts a lifetime so that you can worry less about smiling for the camera or enjoying a delicious meal with family and friends. Call our office to schedule a consultation today.
Why Choose Villagio Family & Cosmetic Dental for Dental Implants?
- Start-to-Finish Dental Implant Placement & Restoration
- Evening & Weekend Appointments Available for Busy Individuals
- Reliable Dental Team That Cares About Patients’ Needs
What are Dental Implants?
Dental implants are not like any other tooth replacement solution on the market. Consisting of titanium posts that look similar to screws, they act like natural tooth roots, helping to stimulate the jawbone once properly fused. Their small size, though, should not be underestimated, as they fully support customized crowns, bridges, or dentures depending on how many teeth you need to have replaced.
The 4-Step Dental Implant Process
- Initial Dental Implant Consultation: You’ll meet with a member of our qualified dental team to discuss the status of your oral and overall health. We’ll also check your jawbone density and determine if you need preliminary care before moving forward with surgery.
- Dental Implant Surgery: Ensuring you’re comfortable, we’ll administer local anesthesia before placing the implants in their designated spots along the jawbone.
- Dental Implant Osseointegration/Abutment: After returning home to recover for 4-6 months (this is how long osseointegration can take), you will return to have your metal abutments, which are small connectors that attach to your custom restoration, put into place.
- Delivery of Dental Implant Restoration(s): Once you are fully healed from your implant procedure and abutment placement, you will finally receive your custom restoration, which will be secured to the tops of your implants and ready for use.
Benefits of Dental Implants
- Long Lifespan – When properly cared for, dental implants can last 30 years or more. Many cases have reported, however, that implant posts can remain in place for a lifetime.
- Improved Jawbone Stimulation – Dental implants help to provide continuous jawbone stimulation in place of natural tooth roots, which helps to keep healthy teeth from falling out and allow for more youthful facial aesthetics.
- Greater Confidence – Eating, speaking, and smiling no longer have to cause embarrassment thanks to dental implants. You’ll feel confident performing normal daily tasks because of their permanence and stability.
- Optimal Oral Health – When replacing missing teeth, you’ll find that your oral health drastically improves because of the reduced chances of tooth misalignment, gum disease, and even systemic diseases commonly linked to tooth loss (i.e., diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, etc.).
Who Dental Implants Can Help
If you are without one or more missing teeth, there is a good chance that you will be eligible to receive dental implants. While the discussion of when you can expect to receive them cannot be determined until you meet with one of our dentists for a consultation, we will do our best to make sure that your mouth is in optimal shape to support custom dental implants in the future.
As part of your consultation, we will go over the versatility of these tooth replacement options and how they can help to replace any number of missing teeth, including:
Missing One Tooth
Instead of turning to a dental bridge that requires altering healthy teeth, we can use a single dental implant post, metal abutment, and customized dental crown to replace one missing tooth.
Missing Multiple Teeth
Using an implant bridge, we can avoid shaving down abutment teeth on either side of the gap and instead attach a custom bridge on top of a small number of dental implant posts. By securing them to the jawbone, this prosthetic will remain stable and functional for years to come.
Missing All of Your Teeth
While full dentures are highly recommended and enjoyed by millions of people, using 4-6 dental implant posts can make it easy to secure a custom implant denture in place. This prosthetic, whether fixed or removable, delivers maximum support and function, making it easy to eat your favorite, nutrient-rich foods and speak without slurring your words.
Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants
We cannot determine the cost of dental implants until we have a chance to meet with you for a scheduled consultation. Based on the status of your oral and overall health as well as your jawbone density, we may need to incorporate additional treatments before determining the overall cost of your new smile. No matter the final price, though, you can expect that we will go over our available payment options to help you navigate how best to cover the cost. Whether it is using your dental insurance, signing up for our in-house membership plan, or inquiring about flexible financing, we are here to help.
Dental Implant FAQs
Does Getting Dental Implants Hurt?
Just like with other dental procedures, our team will first numb your mouth with a local anesthetic so that you can undergo your treatment pain-free. Additionally, we can offer sedation dentistry so that you can further relax and feel at ease while receiving your dental implants. The jawbone also does not have very many nerve endings, meaning you shouldn’t worry much about pain following your surgery. Still, it’s normal to experience mild soreness, but this should only be temporary. You can manage any slight discomfort with a cold compress as well as by taking over-the-counter pain medications. If you notice any strange issues during your recovery, notify our team for help.
How Long Do Dental Implants Last?
Since they’re embedded directly into the jawbone to serve as new tooth roots, dental implants are designed to last several decades to even the rest of your life. Of course, the lifespan of your restoration will depend on factors such as your oral health and how well you take care of them. This is why our team will need to thoroughly assess your mouth, jaw, and gum health so that we can ensure the lowest possible chance of failure or complications in the long run. Once you’ve received your new pearly whites, make sure to practice good oral hygiene, such as brushing, flossing, rinsing with mouthwash, avoiding hard/sticky foods, staying away from tobacco products, and visiting your dentist regularly for checkups.
What Can Cause Dental Implants to Fail?
Though this is incredibly rare, dental implants can potentially fail due to failed osseointegration or peri-implantitis. During your recovery, your implant(s) will need to fuse with your jawbone, a process known as osseointegration. If completed properly, you should gain a stable foundation for your new teeth. If this fails, your implant can end up becoming loose and unreliable. Peri-implantitis is a form of periodontal infection that attacks the tissue holding your implant(s) in place. This often occurs due to poor oral hygiene, which is why you must practice great care of your smile during and after recovery. Other reasons for implant failure include tobacco use, bruxism, particular medications, and certain health conditions (like diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, etc.). Our team will provide you with a guideline on how to minimize your risk of complications.
Am I Too Young to Get Dental Implants?
The only limitation for patients is that they must have fully developed jawbones to be eligible for dental implant treatment. In many cases, this won’t occur until young adulthood, and the age can vary between men and women. If dental implants are embedded before your jaw has completely matured, it can end up interfering with bone development and leading to serious issues down the road. Those who are younger than 18 won’t be candidates, especially since most people’s jaws don’t fully develop until their mid-20s. Furthermore, men’s jaws often take longer to mature than women’s.