Dental implants are a great option to replace missing teeth. Today implants are a predicable, aesthetic, and long-lasting way to restore your smile to ideal health and function.
Dental implants are composed of three different parts. First is the titanium implant (the screw) that goes into the bone. Second is the abutment that joins the screw to the implant crown. Third is the implant crown. This portion of the implant is what is visible above the gum line and looks and feels like a natural tooth.
Dental implants are great for replacing missing teeth. They don't sacrifice the teeth around them like bridges can, and can even help the adjacent teeth last longer. Also you don’t need one dental implant per missing teeth. Many times, we can replace multiple teeth with a single dental implant.
Dental Implants at Desert Smiles
Thanks to Dr. Tenney’s continual education and advanced training, we are able to place and restore dental implants from the convenience of our Glendale dental office.
The day of surgery, local anesthetic is used to numb the area around your missing tooth. An incision is made and the surgical guide is placed, which helps guide and place the implant in the most ideal position. After the implant is placed, the area is closed up with stitches. The dental implant needs time to fuse with the bone. After three to four months, we test the implant and ensure maximum integration. After full integration, we will make an abutment and implant crown to complete your treatment.
Why choose Desert Smiles for your dental implant?
All implants should start with the end in mind, meaning proper diagnostics and proper treatment planning. Here at Desert Smiles, we do an in-oral 3D scan and take a 3D X-ray (CBCT). This allows us to pre-plan the implant position in the mouth. It also enables us to create a 3D printed surgical guide, so we know exactly where we want the implant before we start.
Following your implant surgery, we take a 3D intraoral scan to make your custom abutment and dental crown. Every implants gets the correct abutment and crown design for each patient’s unique mouth and bite. We do not use stock abutments or crowns.
After the crown is placed, we meticulously check the bite to ensure proper function.
Implant Care
Caring for a dental implant is much like caring for the remainder of your natural teeth. We recommend professional cleaning every four to six months with our Desert Smiles hygiene team, as well as flossing once a day and brushing twice a day. We also recommend yearly X-rays to ensure the health of the bone around the implant.