What are the advantages of dental implants?

Improved chewing
Biting forces are higher with implant-supported dentures than conventional dentures.

Improved Aesthetics
Implants may provide the best aesthetical outcome compared to other replacement options.

Comfort
The smaller area of tissue cover impinges less on tongue space, leading to greater comfort.

Improve speech
Implant prostheses are more stable and infringe less on tongue space, thus favorably influencing your speech pattern.

Preservation of the remaining jaw bone structure
Conservation of the teeth.

Better success rate
Implant-retained prostheses generally have a higher success rate and longevity than conventional fixed and removable dentures.

Socio-Psychological Benefits
An implant-borne fixed prosthesis can improve your self-esteem as it replicates missing teeth and avoids the need for a removable prosthesis.

Who is a candidate for dental implants?

Anyone in reasonable health who wants to replace missing teeth can be a candidate. You must have enough bone in the area of the missing teeth to provide for the anchorage of the implant.

Who is not a candidate for the implant?

Not everyone can have an implant. Certain factors such as diabetes, bleeding disorders, severe chronic illness, certain medications as well as compromised physical and mental integrity. If too much jaw bone has been lost due to ageing and extraction of teeth, the implant will not be successful. Smoking can cause failure of the implant to integrate with the jaw bone. Smoking can significantly increase the risk of failure to improve the chances of success – do not smoke.

Does getting a dental implant hurt?

Almost without exception, patients report that there was far less discomfort from the implant placement than when they had the tooth or teeth extracted. The actual procedure to surgically place a dental implant is a minor one and usually done under local anaesthesia or sedation and is generally not at all painful. Under sedation people are not aware of the procedure itself. When the anaesthesia wears off about three or four hours later, you may expect some discomfort. The level of discomfort is quite different from patient to patient, but most patients do not have significant problems. Usually only mild analgesics are needed for a day or two.

Are dental implants always successful?

Success depends very much on where the implants are placed in the jaw, and what they are used to support. The best position of implant is in the front portion of the lower jaw, where success rate can be close to 100%. In general implants have success rate of 90-98%. Occasionally dental implants fail to integrate with the bone or as some people say they are rejected. In most instances, the rejected implant will have to be removed and replaced with another one.

How long will the treatment take?

Your first step is to arrange a consultation where we can start working on your specific needs, important diagnostic information is collected, which may include photographs, X rays and models of your teeth. Once we have discussed your treatment needs, treatment may begin. The implant fixture will have to be inserted into the jaw bone first and left to integrate with the surrounding bone. After a healing period of two to three months it will become strong enough support a prosthesis. In recent years, however, there has been al lot of research indicating that implants can be loaded as soon as they are placed in the jaw bone. Each case has to be assessed on its merits, we advise what is the best for any particular situation.

Guided Bone Regeneration (GBR)
One of the essential prerequisite for implant therapy is the presence of a healthy and adequate jaw bone to provide a solid foundation for the support of the implant, if the available bone is inadequate, it has to be regenerated either prior to or simultaneously with the placement of the implant otherwise alternative treatment options must be considered. Guided bone regeneration is a specialised procedure performed either several months prior to the placement of the dental implant, or simultaneously with the placement of the dental implant to produce either a wider ridge of bone or to fill a defect in the bone to make it easier to place the implant in an ideal position with a predictable outcome both aesthetically and functionally. It blocks fast growing gum tissue, allowing slower growing bones cells to fill in the defect. During GBR therapy regenerative barrier membranes (either resorbable or non resorbable) are surgically placed between the gum and the bone letting your natural bone tissue heal without interference. Sometimes bone grafting materials may have to be used with regenerative barrier membranes.

Bone Grafting Material
Human bone-autogenous bone graft (from the same human), this can be harvested from some oral sites in the lower or the upper jaw that has abundance of bone, it can be also be collected from bur shavings and a bone trap fitted into one of the suction hoses.

Xenogenetic bone graft materials:

How much does it cost?

Costs vary depending on the number of implants, prosthesis design, and the condition of available bone and gum tissue.