What Is a Single Dental Implant?
A single tooth implant consists of a small screw or post that is inserted into your jawbone during a short surgery. The screw can be made from titanium alloy or zirconia, as both are highly biocompatible.
Once the screw has been inserted, it soon becomes fused in place during Osseointegration. Osseointegration occurs when new bone is deposited on and around the implant, securing it firmly in the jaw so it is strong and stable and can support a new implant crown.
Osseointegration can take anywhere from 2 to 6 months to complete. While the implant is healing, we may fit a temporary crown purely for cosmetic purposes.
After we are satisfied that Osseointegration is complete, we attach an abutment to the implant that protrudes just above your gum line. The abutment supports your new implant crown.
The next stage is to fabricate your new dental implant crown. It is fixed permanently onto the abutment either with dental cement or, more likely, with a small screw.
A screw-retained crown is easier to retrieve if we need to carry out any maintenance. The screw is inserted through a hole in the implant crown. Once in place, the hole is filled with tooth-colored composite resin.
Who Should Consider a Single Dental Implant?
It’s worth considering a single tooth implant if you want a reliable long-term solution for your missing single tooth. Other considerations include:
- Oral health, as any problems like tooth decay or gum disease, must be treated first.
- Overall health because certain conditions affecting your immune system could impact healing after surgery.
- Smoking can delay or impair healing, and we prefer patients to quit during treatment and, ideally, for good.
- Jawbone health, as your implant must be surrounded by strong, healthy bone. Alternatively, we can restore missing bone with bone grafting.
See Single Dental Implant Before & After Results
See more photos of Single Dental Implant before and after
What Are the Benefits of Having a Single Implant?
Benefits can include:
Preserving Your Jawbone
Dental implants are designed to replicate real tooth roots, stimulating the bone around them and ensuring your jawbone doesn’t resorb. Bone resorption is a common and unavoidable problem after tooth loss and can destabilize adjacent teeth and affect your bite.
It’s generally better to have a dental implant soon after tooth loss to help prevent jawbone loss from occurring.
Good Biting and Chewing Strength
A single tooth implant has a biting and chewing strength similar to a real tooth. Once healed, you should be able to eat almost anything you wish.
Easy to Care for
You don’t need to do anything different to look after a single dental implant, as you can brush and floss it exactly like a real tooth. However, good oral care is important to help prevent the gum and bone surrounding the implant from becoming infected.
Protecting Your Remaining Teeth
Dental implant teeth help prevent your existing teeth from shifting position. They help share the load when you bite and chew food. Unlike a dental bridge, dental implants are self-supporting, so we don’t need to reshape the adjacent teeth, potentially removing healthy tooth structure.
A Natural Look and Feel
A single tooth implant looks just like a real tooth. It is surrounded by your gum and emerges from it like a natural tooth. It should feel so good that you will probably forget it isn’t your own tooth. We always take enormous care when designing single implant teeth, and modern porcelains can look amazing.
Cost-Effective
Initially, a single implant tooth costs slightly more than a three-tooth bridge, but it will save you money in the longer term. Eventually, you will need to replace dental restorations as they age. Replacing a single implant crown for front tooth dental implants will cost less than replacing a three-tooth bridge.
Are There Any Risks in Having a Single Implant Tooth?
Any oral surgery carries a small element of risk, but we take extensive steps to reduce these risks. Your implant surgery is completed using strict infection controls to keep you and our dental team safe.
All our implant components are high quality and built to last. Using computer-guided surgery ensures that every dental implant is inserted optimally.
Dental implants can fail if the tissues surrounding them become infected. This risk can be minimized by ensuring you practice good oral hygiene. If you have a clenching and grinding habit (bruxism), we must treat this before your implant surgery. Otherwise, it can place too much pressure on the implant, potentially causing implant failure.
Understanding the Dental Implant Process
The process can take several months to complete but requires relatively few visits to our dental office. A brief outline of the process is below, but you can find more information on our dental implants page.
- Initial Consultation and Diagnostics
Your initial consultation determines if you are suitable for treatment, where we assess your dental and general health. We take digital dental X-rays and a cone beam CT scan to plan your computer-guided dental implant surgery.
When the plan is complete, a computer-generated stent is created and guides our dentist during surgery.
- Implant Surgery
We can place a single dental implant using just local anesthetic, but we can provide sedation dentistry if you prefer.
The computer-generated stent is placed over your gums, and a small incision is made into your gum. A tiny hole is created for the dental implant screw. The stent ensures these are made in precisely the right location, at the correct angulation and depth.
The implant screw is inserted and torqued or tightened into place. At this point, we can fit a temporary implant restoration onto the implant, or we may cover it and leave it to heal.
- Fabricating Your New Crown
After several months, you will return to our dental office so we can begin fabricating your new implant crown. A detailed digital dental impression is taken of your implant and transmitted to our dental lab so they can create a precision-made restoration.
- Fitting Your New Crown
We can fit your new crown during your next appointment. Once fitted, we will go over instructions on how to care for it properly, and you are ready to show your new smile to the world with mini dental implants.
Are You Ready to Learn More about Single Tooth Implants?
Our team is here to help you. Call Clock Tower Dental to schedule your consultation today.