Here is a general overview of our dental implant treatment strategy at Louisville Dental Implants:
A CBCT 3D scan will be taken and a careful examination of the patient’s soft and hard tissue anatomy will be performed as well as an evaluation of the patient’s medical health and current prescriptions. Candidacy for a dental implant as well as determining the most likely implant size and potential additional surgery needs will be evaluated and discussed. Surgery date can be scheduled and preoperative prescriptions written, and surgery details will be discussed.
This appointment is for dental implant placement surgery or any surgery needed before implants can be placed. Most likely this surgery will include the placement of the implant and potentially a healing cap and temporary crown or retainer to be placed, to provide a temporary tooth in the space while the implant heals and integrates into the bone. If a surgery is needed prior to implant placement, like a ridge augmentation graft or a significant sinus lift, the implant may need to be placed after the grafts heal, although this is rare. In most cases a sinus lift is performed and the implant is placed at the same time as the sinus lift.
Two weeks after surgery you will return for a checkup to see how well the implant surgery site is healing. Any sutures will be removed and the site will be thoroughly evaluated to ensure everything is healing well.
Healing cap will be removed and impression will be taken for an abutment and either a treatment crown or a final crown. Healing cap will be placed back on implant and impressions sent to dental laboratory for custom crown work.
Healing cap will be removed and final abutment placed. Crown will be fitted, adjusted as needed, and cemented to abutment. Bite relationship will be checked and adjusted as needed. This is typically the last appointment in the implant process. In certain cases a sixth appointment might be needed, although it is rare.
In certain cases like full arch cases with several implants, a follow-up appointment may be needed to ensure that the bite relationship is correct and ensure that any bite interferences are corrected.
At Louisville Dental Implants we offer a full array of options for dental implants. Implants can either be placed in an area that has been missing a tooth for some time, or placed immediately after a tooth is extracted. We have an implant dedicated for each of these situations, including the only FDA-cleared implant solution for immediate molar replacement. Our ability to perform your implant placement at time of extraction can eliminate the need for a 4-month healing process and expensive socket preservation grafting. This advantage means less money out of pocket for our patients and a reduced amount of time needed to get you your implant crown placed and chewing with the tooth again.
We have partnered with Keystone Dental Implants to provide our dental implants. We use the Genesis and Tri-Max systems from Keystone, very high quality implant systems that give us the peace of mind that we are providing our patients with the best implants available on the market. For more information on Keystone’s Implants, visit keystonedental.com.
The Keystone Genesis implant is made of medical graded titanium that is coated in a nano-spark surface which provides superior integration into the jaw bone. That and the thread pattern of the implant allow for superior initial stability at placement and allow for immediate placement in non-molar teeth; they also often allow for a temporary crown to be placed at time of surgery. The Genesis system also has a pink anodized collar. This feature prevents the gray shadowing that can show through the gums with implants. This grayness is a common problem that is eliminated with the Genesis system. At Louisville Dental Implants we feel that the Genesis system is the superior dental implant on the market. Our patients deserve the best in our surgical skills as well as the best in dental implant products, and Keystone allows us to provide the best implant treatment available in modern dentistry. For more info on the Genesis system, visit keystonedental.com/genesis.
Keystone has the only FDA-cleared implant for use in molar extraction sites, which is one of the most common situations for dental implant needs. This system gives us the ability to extract a molar and replace it with a large diameter implant that closely mimics the size of the natural molar root and preserves the natural width of the ridge. Without this system the molar would need to be extracted and grafted, then the implant placed 4 months afterwards. Our molar replacement dental implant is the best on the market and prevents that delay of 4 months; it also reduces the treatment plan to only one surgery date rather than two.
If you are missing one or several teeth, there is no more natural replacement option than a dental implant.
This option is for those who have no natural teeth and want a fixed option to replace their teeth, but do not want a removable denture.
If a patient has a denture but it doesn’t fit and/or function well, dental implants can be used to provide retention for an existing denture.
If a patient wants a denture that fits and functions at the top level possible but still wants the denture to be removable, an implant bar is a great option.
Copyright © 2017 Louisville Dental Implants, Dr. Eric Nunnally