Dental Implants - Common Questions Answered By Implant Dentist

Dental Implants - Common Questions Answered By Implant Dentist

If you have lost a tooth, it is likely that one of your options is to replace it with a dental implant. Before you decide a course of action, you should consider asking your implant dentist some simple questions:

What is a dental implant?

A dental implant is a titanium metal replacement for a root of a tooth that is surgically implanted in the jawbone by a specially trained implant dentist or oral surgeon. As the body heals for approximately two to six months after the surgery, the bone around the implant fuses to the implant through a process called osseointegration. After the healing phase is complete, the implants are used to anchor crowns, bridges, or dentures. Dental implants are the most natural replacement for a missing tooth.

What does the implant dentist do?

The process should begin with a thorough evaluation of the patient's medical and dental history, and a full clinical examination of the entire mouth and missing tooth area by your dentist. The clinical exam should also include specific X-rays. After assessing the patient, a comprehensive treatment plan can be devised. From that point, implants are surgically placed in the jawbone under local anesthesia. The length of the healing time is based on the quality and quantity of bone, as well as the type of implant placed. After adequate healing is allowed to occur, the implant can be used to support a crown, bridge, or denture.

What happens if the dental implant fails to fuse to the jawbone?

If an implant fails to bond to bone, another implant can immediately be put in its place, usually of a slightly larger diameter. In situations where another implant cannot be immediately placed, the area is allowed to heal for a few months and then another one can be put in the same place.

How many implants should be placed?

This is a question that should be determined during the treatment plan. A good rule-of-thumb is to place one implant for each tooth replaced. Other decisive factors for the number of implants needed for success is the quality and quantity of the patient's bone. Equally as important are the existing anatomy of the bone and the financial resources of the patient.

Placing enough implants to restore teeth is vitally important to the long-term success of the restoration. Simply stated, the most costly mistake is to have an implant fail because not enough implants are placed to support the teeth. If the number of implants is limited due to financial constraints of the patient, then the implant treatment should be avoided or the type of restoration must be altered.

When you are more knowledgeable about your implant treatment, you will be able to have more input to give your dentist and better your chances of a successful treatment outcome.

DR. GARY SIGAFOOS

LaJolla Periodontics

www.lajollaperiodontics.com

Follow @GarySigafoos on Twitter and do a “Like” at LajollaGumDiseaseCare Fanpage. If you're looking for an experienced periodontist to care for gingivitis and periodontial disease in La Jolla, contact Dr. Sigafoos,(858) 568-8941.

Morning Breath: What REALLY Causes It & How You Can Instantly Stop That Horrible Thick Sticky-Taste & Sickening Smell

Morning Breath: What REALLY Causes It & How You Can Instantly Stop That Horrible Thick Sticky-Taste & Sickening Smell


Millions of people experience morning breath everyday, but you don't have to simply put up with it. Once you understand what causes it (and it's not what you think!), you can quickly and easily eliminate it as soon as you wake up!

By Tomas Caomhanach

Morning breath is one of those things that has bugged virtually everybody at one time or another. That thick sticky-tasting sensation and heavy sickening smell is an all-too-familiar experience for millions of people every day. (And, despite its name, "morning breath" is not actually confined to just the morning-time; it can happen after any period of prolonged sleep.)

Morning breath: The thick sticky-tasting sensation and heavy sickening smell of morning breath is experienced by millions every day.
Normally, you can't smell your own bad breath, but morning breath is different. You can both smell and taste it because it's not really bad breath at all. At least, it's not caused by the same thing that causes 90%+ of most bad breath cases.

So what does cause it? Well, have you ever noticed how tired you feel after a big meal? That's because digestion of food requires an enormous amount of energy. In fact, from the time we start eating in the morning, until many hours after our last meal in the evening, a very large percentage of the body's energy supplies are dedicated solely to digesting that food.

The only time you stop eating is for 8-12 hours during the night when you are asleep. And, as soon as your stomach is (finally) free of food, all that energy suddenly becomes available for repairing damage and eliminating waste from the body.

Most of that waste ends up in the toilet the next day but, given the narrow window of opportunity your body has to get rid of it (before you wake up and start eating again), it dumps as much as possible through any available means. This includes sending it back up your throat in the form of excess thickened mucus... which is like Manna from Heaven for the bacteria that live in your mouth! They love it, and will feed and feed and feed on it all night long. In the process, they will generate a large amount of incredibly smelly and foul tasting byproducts, which you recognize as the overpowering smell and taste of morning breath!

Those same bacteria get an added boost from the fact that your saliva glands slow down the production of saliva when you're asleep (or, in some cases, they stop it altogether). This happens because your brain knows you won't be eating while asleep and, therefore, have little need for it. However, saliva contains very high levels of oxygen, which those bacteria don't like, so, when it's gone, they go wild! With that big 'mucus-feast', and a much more favorable (saliva-free) environment, they will rapidly reproduce. In fact, it's entirely possible for them to reproduce several generations in a single night. And, the more of them there are, the more smelly byproducts they will produce... and the worse your morning breath will be!

Fortunately, stopping morning breath is simple...

1. Cut off their food supply: You do that by simply eating something. Anything at all. It doesn't really matter what because, as soon as you re-fill your stomach, your body will immediately stop eliminating mucus, and turn its attention back to digestion. Eating will also kick-start your saliva glands back into action.

2. Drink a nice big glass of water: This will immediately saturate your whole mouth (and wash down whatever you just ate). It'll help your body to rev-up saliva production too. (It's best not to drink very cold water though, as that can cause stomach upset. Ideally, pour water into a filter jug and leave it standing overnight. The water will then be room temperature in the morning.)

The Bad Breath Report
Scientifically-Proven Method To
Cure Bad Breath At Home
www.TheBadBreathReport.com

 

DR. GARY SIGAFOOS

LaJolla Periodontics
http://www.lajollaperiodontics.com/

Follow @GarySigafoos on Twitter and do a “Like” at LajollaGumDiseaseCare Fanpage. If you're looking for an experienced periodontist to care for gingivitis and periodontial disease in La Jolla, contact Dr. Sigafoos,  (858) 568-8941.