Home / Dental Implants
The overview
A dental implant
is a root.
Everything else is
built on it.
Strip away the marketing and an implant is a titanium screw that takes the place of a tooth root. What it carries — a crown, a bridge, a fixed arch, a denture that snaps in — is a separate decision, and it is the one that decides how the result feels.
Why people come here
- Surgery and the finished teeth done by one dentist, under one roof
- Diplomate of the International Congress of Oral Implantologists
- Fellow of the Misch Institute — and faculty at its successor
- A written, itemized plan before anything is scheduled
First principles
Why the order of decisions matters.
Bone does something unusual around titanium: it grows directly onto the surface and locks it in place. That process, osseointegration, is why an implant can carry a chewing load the way a natural root does, and it is why an implant that is placed well tends to stay placed.
The part people underestimate is position. An implant that is three millimeters off is still integrated, still solid, and still wrong — because the tooth that has to sit on it now has to be designed around a compromise. That is why the finished tooth is planned first here and the implant is placed to serve it, not the other way round.
What has to be true before an implant goes in
- Enough bone in the right place, or a plan to rebuild it with bone grafting
- Healthy gum tissue, and any active gum disease treated first
- A bite that will not overload the implant once it is loaded
- General health and medications reviewed — some affect healing
- Smoking discussed honestly, because it measurably raises the failure rate
The options
Seven ways an implant gets used.
Single tooth implant
One implant, one abutment, one crown. The teeth either side are never touched.
All-on-4 and full-arch
Four to six implants carry a fixed arch that is screwed into place and does not come out.
Implant-supported bridge
Two implants carry three or four teeth. Fewer implants, fewer surgical sites, lower cost.
Implant denture
Two to four implants with attachments hold a denture down. It snaps in and out.
Same-day placement
The tooth comes out and the implant goes in at the same visit, when the site allows it.
Mini implants
A narrower one-piece implant for a thin ridge or to stabilize a lower denture.
Revision of a failing implant
Diagnosis first: a loose screw, a failed restoration and a failing implant are different problems.
Against the alternatives
A bridge costs two healthy teeth.
A three-unit bridge replaces one missing tooth by grinding the two teeth either side down to posts and cementing a span across them. It works, it is quicker, and it is usually cheaper on the day. The price is paid later: two previously healthy teeth are now permanently altered, and when the bridge eventually fails, it takes them with it.
An implant leaves those teeth alone. The bone under the missing tooth also keeps its stimulation, so the ridge does not collapse the way it does under a bridge or a partial denture.
None of that makes a bridge wrong. It makes it a trade, and you should hear the trade out loud before you choose.
The sequence
What actually happens, in order.
Examination and imaging
A clinical exam, photographs and a 3D cone beam scan that shows the bone you cannot see on a flat x-ray.
Visit oneThe written plan
Options, sequence and an itemized estimate you take home. No pressure to decide in the chair.
Same weekSurgery
The implant is placed, usually under local anesthetic. Most people are back to normal the next day.
1–2 hoursHealing
The bone locks onto the implant. You wear a temporary and feel very little of it.
3–6 monthsThe final tooth
Scanned, designed and fitted. This is where the planning done in step one either pays off or does not.
2–3 visitsQuestions
The ones we get most.
Does it hurt?
Placing a single implant is usually less eventful than the extraction that preceded it. It is done under local anesthetic, most people take ordinary pain relief for a day or two, and swelling is mild. Larger cases with grafting are more, and we tell you that in advance.
How long do implants last?
Long-term studies put implant survival well above ninety percent at ten years. The implant itself rarely wears out; the crown on top is a normal dental restoration and may need replacing at some point, exactly like any other crown.
Can I be too old?
Age is almost never the limiting factor — health, medications and bone are. Plenty of implant patients here are in their seventies and eighties.
What if I do not have enough bone?
That is common, and it is usually solvable. Bone grafting rebuilds a ridge that has resorbed, and in the upper back jaw a sinus elevation creates the height an implant needs. Both are routine and most are done under local.
Will anyone be able to tell?
A well-made implant crown is matched to the neighboring teeth in shade, shape and the way it catches light. In the front of the mouth the gum contour matters as much as the porcelain, which is why the soft tissue is planned rather than left to chance.
Start with an exam and a straight answer.
A consultation includes an examination, 3D imaging and a written, itemized plan. If implants are not the right treatment for you, Dr. Patellis will say so and tell you what is.