Dental Implants Cost And More

Dental implants are screw shaped artificial tooth root replacements. Made from titanium, these are not ordinary screws that you will find in a hardware store. Instead, these are produced by using state of art technology involving sophisticated processes. Titanium is used because it can be successfully fused into the bone when the bone grows on and into the rough surface of a titanium implant. Tooth implants have become increasingly popular due to the high success rates.

Advancement in technology has also made dental implant procedures easier. Some of the reasons that people opt for tooth implants are aesthetics, comfort and durability. Since implants are usually placed where there are no teeth, tooth implants prevent bone loss. The bone which does not support a tooth tends to shrink away over time. After fusion a functional and structural association between the bone and the implant is created.

Dental implant surgery involves placing a titanium screw shaped as a tooth root into the bone. Before surgery a dentist prepares a careful plan to identify live structures like the inferior alveolar nerve or the sinus. The basic procedure involves preparing the bone with precision dental drills so that the artificial tooth can be implanted. A pilot hole is drilled in the bone in stages. Being a complicated and delicate procedure cost of dental implants is on the higher side, between $2000 and $4000.

Mini dental implants are miniature implants that serve the purpose of a tooth root. It is primarily used as a retaining fixture that is included in into the base of a denture. The head of the implant is shaped like a ball and the retaining fixture in the denture has an O-shaped ring that acts like a socket. This is to address a common problem of dentures slipping out and falling off. The O-shaped ring snaps into the ball of mini implant and when properly placed holds the denture in place. The mini implant fixture resists natural lifting forces and at the same time allows micro mobility.

Duration of tooth implant procedure depends upon each individual. The two most important criteria are physical condition and anatomy. It may take three to nine months. However, the actual dental procedure is much short and most of the time is taken by healing and growth of bone. Generally, dentists allow 2 to 6 months before they proceed with loading or placing a crown over the artificial tooth. Recent experiments show that the better strategy is to start the implant procedure immediately after extraction of a tooth. Although an expensive treatment, dental implants are a solution for loss of teeth due to whatever reason.