Dental Implant Procedure

The dental implant procedure take place in a number of stages, depending on the patient’s health, the location of the intended implant, and the condition of the patient’s jaw.

A dental implant in the strict sense does not refer to the replacement tooth as a whole, but rather to the artificial root that will support it. Your dentist will need to make a thorough assessment of your needs, with X-rays and scans as required, charts and other records, as part of the surgical planning phase.

Your dentist will assess the condition of your jaw and advise you if you need preliminary treatment to provide a sufficient foundation for the implant. Sometimes a bone graft is carried out before the implant is inserted to give it greater structural support. Then the first stage of the implant procedure itself is to insert the implant into the jaw bone and allow this to heal.

After the implant has been inserted, there is a period for the gum tissue to heal and the implant to connect with the bone that surrounds it — a process called “osseointegration”. This takes some months and the exact duration will vary in each case.

After the implant has integrated with the jawbone, a post or “abutment” is normally placed into the implant to support a prosthetic tooth or denture. The crown is usually made to match the shade of the surrounding teeth, so that it has the appearance of a natural tooth in its own right.

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