Lombard Dental Implants

Dental Implants Are Changing the Lives of Many of Our Patients

Dental Implants are metal anchors made of strong titanium that are placed into the jaw bone to provide a high strength support system for the replacement of one or more teeth. For patients who want to support their smile but don’t want to invest in dentures, dental implants are permanently fixed into the mouth to support a strong replacement tooth that looks and feels natural, and can last a lifetime. With a dental implant, the pressure that is unnaturally put on existing teeth when one or more teeth are missing is balanced, and your ability to bite, chew, and smile is restored. Implants are significantly comfortable and won’t slip, slide, or cause sores or annoying “clicks” the way dentures do when they aren’t fitted properly. Because they’re scientifically proven to last decades or longer and look and feel just like natural teeth, you’ll feel so confident with your new dental implants that you might forget they’re not your natural teeth!

Understanding the Dental Implant Process

The dental implant process will begin with a comprehensive consultation with Dr. Brett Blacher at our office in Lombard. Using scans and x-rays of your jaw, he will assess your overall oral health and the strength of your jaw bone, and determine if you are a good candidate for dental implants.

If you are approved, the dental implant process will begin at your next appointment. Dr. Blacher will create a customized dental implant treatment plan, and determine the optimal placement for your dental implant. Once your treatment plan has been finalized, you’ll come in for your first appointment at the office of Dr. Brett Blacher.

Next, your mouth will be numbed. You can also be sedated if you would like to stay more relaxed and comfortable during the procedure. Once your mouth is numb, Dr. Brett Blacher will create a small opening in your gums and jaw, based on your implant treatment plan. Then, he will insert a small titanium dental implant into this opening. Once the implant is in the proper position, Dr. Blacher will clean and disinfect the treatment area and suture it shut to promote healing.

You’ll be sent home after this treatment with instructions on how to care for your mouth as you recover from your oral surgery. Initial recovery from the implant procedure may take up to a week. 

However, you will have to wait about 3-6 months before an implant-supported restoration such as a dental crown can be placed. This is because your implant must “osseointegrate” with your mouth. This is the process by which the implant bonds permanently to the surrounding jaw bone. Osseointegration must be complete before a restoration is attached to the implant.

You’ll come in for a few follow-ups with Dr. Brett Blacher over the next few months so that he can check your recovery, and begin building your implant-supported restoration by taking dental impressions and images of your mouth.

Once your implant-supported restoration is complete and your mouth has healed, you’ll come back in for your final appointment. A few weeks before this, you may require another preparation appointment to expose the dental implant and attach an “abutment” to which the crown will be attached.

Then, your dental crown or other implant-supported restoration will be checked for the proper fit and attached to your dental implant permanently. This completes the procedure. If you have good oral hygiene habits and see Dr. Blacher every six months for a check-up, you can expect your implant to last 30+ years. 

Are Dental Implants Right for Me?

This depends on your oral health, the strength of your jaw, your budget for restorative dentistry, and a few other factors. However, we highly recommend dental implants for restoring missing teeth, rather than alternative treatments like dental bridges or partial dentures. They provide better overall results and have an extremely long lifespan.

Does Getting An Implant Hurt?

The implant placement procedure will not hurt at all. Dr. Blacher uses the latest tools as well as numbing and sedation to make sure you feel absolutely no pain or discomfort when getting a dental implant. 

However, getting an implant is still a surgical procedure, and involves cutting into your gums and jaw bone. Once your numbing and sedation wear off, you may experience some pain and discomfort as you recover. This will usually peak and then begin to fade within a couple of days. Dr. Blacher will provide you with recovery instructions to help manage your pain and ensure a smooth healing process.

How Long Do Dental Implants Last?

This depends on how well you care for your new implant. But if you maintain good oral hygiene and see Dr. Blacher every six months for regular maintenance and implant checks, your implant will likely remain in place for the rest of your life.

Dental implants have an extremely long lifespan because, while your implant heals, it permanently bonds with your jaw and gum tissue. Basically, it becomes a natural part of your mouth. As long as the gum and jaw tissue remains healthy, it will never fail or fall out. 

However, it is important to know that the restoration attached to your implant, like a dental crown, may wear down over time. Unlike the implant itself, the dental crown is exposed to wear & tear from biting and chewing. It may become loose or even crack eventually, and require replacement. During your routine checkups at the office of Dr. Brett Blacher, Dr. Blacher will check on your implant restoration to make sure it’s in good shape.

What Happens If I Don’t Replace My Missing Tooth?

If you lose one or more of your teeth and you don’t replace them with a dental implant, denture, or dental bridge, your bite may change and shift. When you lose a tooth, the nearby teeth tend to shift toward the now-empty socket, in an attempt to fill the gap in your smile. This can sometimes affect your bite alignment and cause other oral health issues.

Beyond that, a missing tooth can make it harder to eat and to chew, interfering with your ability to eat your favorite foods. Missing front teeth make it harder to cut into food and tear it into chunks, and missing rear teeth make it harder to eat tough, fibrous foods that require a lot of chewing.

Of course, a missing tooth also can interfere with your appearance and your ability to speak clearly. This issue is the most prominent with the front teeth. You may feel self-conscious about how you look, and you may sound more “slushy” when pronouncing certain sounds, like “S.” 

In addition, if you choose a partial denture or a dental bridge instead of a dental implant, the bone below the now-empty socket will continue to deteriorate over time. Unlike dental implants, which attach to and stimulate the bone, bridges and dentures don’t prevent jaw bone loss, so make sure to consider this when deciding which type of tooth replacement is right for you. 

For all of these reasons and more, it’s a good idea to consider replacing your tooth as soon as you’ve lost a tooth or had a tooth extracted. The sooner you replace your tooth with a dental implant, the sooner you can get back to your day-to-day life without worrying about these complications.