Dental Implants

What a dental implant actually is

An implant is not a tooth. It is a replacement root, and it comes in three separate parts that are fitted at different times. Understanding that is most of what makes the rest of the process make sense.

The implant itself is a small titanium post that is placed into the jawbone where the root used to be. Over the following months the bone grows tightly around it, which is a biological process called osseointegration and is the reason implants are stable in a way that nothing resting on the gum can be. On top of the post sits a connector called an abutment, and on top of that sits the crown, which is the only part you ever see.

That is also why an implant cannot be done in an afternoon for a single tooth. The bone has to do its part before anything can be loaded.

One tooth, several teeth, or a full arch

The same technology covers very different situations, and the right answer depends on how many teeth are missing and where they sit.

• A single implant and crown replaces one missing tooth without touching the healthy teeth on either side.
• An implant-supported bridge replaces three or four teeth in a row using two implants rather than one per tooth.
• An implant-retained denture clips onto two to four implants, so a denture that used to lift when you ate stays where you put it.
• A fixed full-arch bridge, which we offer as Teeth-in-a-Day, replaces every tooth in an arch with teeth that never come out.

A realistic timeline for a single implant

Most people want to know how long they will have a gap. The honest answer is that the gap is usually filled with a temporary from early on, but the finished tooth takes months rather than weeks.

• Consultation: an examination and a 3D scan, so we can see the bone rather than guess at it. You leave with a written plan and a written figure.
• Placement: a single appointment, usually under an hour for one implant. You are fully numbed and sedation is available.
• Healing: three to six months while the bone integrates with the post. A temporary tooth covers the gap during this time.
• Restoration: an impression or digital scan, then the abutment and the final crown, shaded against your own teeth.
• Afterwards: normal check-ups. An implant does not decay, but the gum around it still needs looking after.

Who implants suit, and who they do not

Most healthy adults are candidates, and age on its own is almost never the reason someone is turned down. There are real reasons to pause, though, and we would rather tell you at the consultation than after you have paid for one.

Smoking roughly doubles the risk of an implant failing to integrate, because it restricts the blood supply the bone needs to heal. It is not an automatic no, but it changes the odds and you deserve to hear that before deciding. Uncontrolled diabetes slows healing in the same way; well controlled diabetes generally does not. Active gum disease has to be treated first, because the condition that loosened your own teeth will happily do the same around an implant.

Growing jaws are a genuine exclusion. We do not place implants in teenagers who are still growing, because the implant stays put while the jaw around it keeps developing.

And sometimes the better answer is not an implant at all. A bridge is quicker, involves no surgery and costs less up front, and for someone who does not want months of healing that can be the right trade. A partial denture is cheaper again. We will tell you which we would choose and why, including when it is not the most expensive option.

Why bone matters more than people expect

When a tooth is lost, the bone that used to hold it starts to shrink, because nothing is loading it any more. Most of that loss happens in the first year and it continues slowly after that. It is the quiet reason that a long-standing gap is harder to treat than a recent one, and the reason a face can change shape over years of wearing a denture.

An implant stops that, because it loads the bone the way a root did. Where bone has already been lost, grafting can rebuild enough to place an implant, which adds a stage and some months to the plan but makes treatment possible for people who have been told elsewhere that it is not.

This is also the most useful argument for not waiting. The longer a gap is left, the more likely a graft becomes.

How the cost is structured

Implant pricing confuses people because the advertised figure usually refers to one of the three parts rather than the finished tooth. A quote is only comparable if you know what is inside it.

• The consultation and 3D imaging, which is where the plan comes from.
• The implant post and the surgical placement.
• The abutment and the final crown, which are made separately after healing.
• Any extraction, bone graft or sinus work needed before placement.
• Sedation, if you want it.

Insurance, and paying for it over time

Dental insurance treats implants inconsistently. Many PPO plans contribute something, often toward the crown rather than the surgery, and most plans carry an annual maximum that a full implant will reach on its own. Where that is the case, a treatment plan can sometimes be split across two calendar years so it draws on two annual maximums instead of one. If you have been putting treatment off, asking about that in the fall is worth more than asking in January.

We accept most PPO plans along with Medicaid and Medicare, and we file the claim for you rather than handing you a form. CareCredit and in-house payment plans cover what is left. Before anything is booked you get a written figure with your own insurance already applied, so the number you are deciding on is the number you will pay.