Dental Implants Specialist

What are dental implants?

Dental implants are metal posts placed beneath your gums. They replace your natural tooth roots and support dental restorations like crowns, bridges, or implant-retained overdentures.  

Dental implants fuse with your jaw. That prevents them from shifting, allowing you to speak, bite, and chew confidently.

What are the advantages of dental implants?

Dental implants offer many advantages, including:

• Convenience
• Durability
• Easier eating
• Confidence

In addition, dental implants improve your oral health. By replacing missing permanent teeth, you can lower the risk of gum recession and bone loss, ensuring your smile remains healthy for years.

Can anyone get dental implants?

Dental implants have a proven track record of success, but they aren’t for everyone. That’s particularly true if you have gum disease or low jawbone volume. 

If Dr. Antonio uncovers either of these issues, she might recommend a deep dental cleaning or a bone graft before moving forward.

Let Dr. Anotnio know if you have an underlying medical condition like heart or kidney disease. Chronic ailments may increase the risk of complications during recovery, like implant failure.

What does getting dental implants involve?

At Personal Touch Dentistry, getting dental implants takes a series of appointments. 

First appointment

Before recommending dental implants, Dr. Antonio conducts an oral exam and takes a series of digital X-rays. If your teeth, gums, and jaw are healthy, she administers a local anesthetic and places a series of titanium posts beneath your gums. Following placement, she prescribes antibiotics and pain medication and provides care instructions.

Second appointment

When the implants fuse with your jawbone, 12-16 weeks later, you return to the office. Dr. Antonio takes digital impressions of your mouth with an intraoral scanner and sends them to a laboratory that makes your bridge or implant-retained overdentures. If you’re getting crowns, she makes them on-site using the CAD/CAM milling machine.

When the machine finishes, Dr. Antonio attaches your crowns to the implants. Then, she polishes your teeth and explains how to care for them.

Third appointment

Once the laboratory finishes your bridge or implant-supported overdentures, you visit Personal Touch Dentistry. Dr. Antonio administers a local anesthetic, lines up your restoration with the implants, and bonds it in place. 

How long do dental implants last?

If you practice good oral hygiene, dental implants often last a lifetime. Dr. Antonio recommends brushing and flossing daily and visiting Personal Touch Dentistry two times a year for an oral exam and professional teeth cleaning.

To see if you’re a candidate for dental implants, make an appointment at Personal Touch Dentistry. Call the office and speak with a friendly staff member or book online today.