Doctor Pete Spalitto on dental implants at West County Dental
So dental implants have a lot of a lot of place in the dental office and especially in my office at West County Dental. There’s anywhere from one missing tooth to multiple missing teeth or maybe somebody who already has their teeth out and has a denture that’s not fitting well they want to have it fit better or partial or something of those sorts. The best thing I can do is say call our office come in for a consult let me kind of talk to you about how we can help you out.
A dental implant is basically a simple replacement of a missing tooth or multiple teeth. It’s a surgical grade titanium that is placed placed in the jaw gently. A dental implant is the closest replacement to a missing tooth for for many reasons but simply is that I don’t have to I don’t have to touch the teeth on either side of it.
It can handle the stresses of eating. It’s lifelike once we place a crown or a denture on on top of them. That’s that’s as simple as that.
People always ask you know how am I a candidate for an implant and what I throw back at them is well do you have a tooth that needs to come out? Do you have a missing tooth or do you have some teeth that need to come out? The best option a lot of times is a dental implant or multiple dental implants. Call us at West County Dental. We’ll get you in and check and see if you’re a candidate.
People ask you know when they’re a candidate for an implant does it make sense doing an implant a bridge or partial or denture? Those are different devices all different ways of replacing missing teeth. The beautiful thing about an implant is that you’re just replacing what’s missing and that’s why those have a really a great place in my office. The benefits of an implant over a bridge or or a partial or denture is that we’re really just kind of replacing what’s missing and restoring you to back to the normal function that way.
People always ask about a dental implant it’s longevity and I always tell people that don’t just think it’ll last you the rest of your life. We want it to we hope that it does but it does still take maintenance around just like a normal tooth does. It also means coming to the dentist on a regular visit regular visits for cleanings and so we could maybe we recommend an night guard for somebody if they clench a lot because why did you lose the tooth to begin with? So it’s not just a matter of place and forget there is a follow-up just like with with your normal teeth.
People ask you know I want to know I want a dental implant you know what’s the process from start to finish? First is you come in for a diagnosis and we we talk about yes you need an implant. If a tooth needs to come out we take a tooth out we bone graft the area that period takes sometimes a couple months for it to heal then an implant is placed. That implant needs to heal for a few months also and at that point we just use a laser to uncover the top part of the implant and then we’re able to make a same day crown and abutment on there.
One thing I love about dental implants is they do stop the resorption of bone resorption means the melting away of bone. Once the tooth is lost the bone does want to kind of melt away and an implant just like planting a tree on the hillside keeps erosion from happening is the same analogy in the mouth is that an implant keeps the bone from eroding. People always ask at West County Dental you know is it is it a good investment in implants for good oral health and I always say missing teeth is not a good investment.
Replacement is is a better option because longevity, function, quality of life can be given back to you by having dental implants. I also get asked quite a bit about discomfort with dental implants. Placing them themselves it’s a light numbing typically for a dental implant and what people find is that the discomfort they have after removing the tooth is a lot less even with with placing a dental implant.
You know people ask a lot about the cost of a dental implant and it varies from case to case and so it’s hard to always come up with a number. What I can say is that the cost of a dental implant is gone over at the office when you come in for a treatment plan and then any other side factors that occur whether it’s you know if you need a bone graft or if you need any additional reinforcement for an implant but all those factors come into mind and we have you know treatment plans and so the treatment plans and the third-party financing that we do have at the office is something I ask you to come in and talk to my office about because Debbie and Tanya at the front are very good at going through your options to help you make it affordable for you.
