Dental Implants | Redding, CA

Dental implants are a permanent, natural-looking solution for missing teeth, offering a way to restore your smile and improve your quality of life. Here’s everything you need to know about dental implants and how they can transform your oral health.

What Are Dental Implants?

A dental implant mimics the structure of a natural tooth, consisting of a titanium post (root) and a crown (the visible tooth). Titanium, a biocompatible material, bonds with your jawbone, creating a stable foundation for a replacement tooth.

Surgical Advances in Dental Implants

How Do Dental Implants Work?

1. Placement of the Implant: The titanium implant is surgically placed in the jawbone where the tooth root used to be.
2. Healing and Bone Integration: Over a few months, the bone integrates with the implant, providing a secure foundation.
3. Attachment of the Crown: A support post (abutment) is attached to the implant, and a custom-made crown is placed over it. Temporary teeth may be used during the healing process.

For those missing multiple teeth, full-mouth implants or implant-supported dentures offer a stable and comfortable solution.

Overview of Implant Placement

The Dental Implant Surgical Procedure

Benefits of Dental Implants

• Long-lasting and Durable: Implants are designed to last for many years, often a lifetime with proper care.
• Natural Look and Feel: The replacement teeth look and function like natural teeth, enhancing your smile and confidence.
• Improved Speech and Comfort: Implants eliminate the discomfort of dentures, allowing you to speak and eat freely without fear of slipping.
• Preserves Jawbone Health: Implants stimulate the jawbone, preventing bone loss that occurs when teeth are missing.

Advanced Technology for Better Outcomes

Using the latest advancements, Dr. Burlingame and Dr. Suarez offer state-of-the-art implant procedures. We offer single-stage implants, which require no second surgery, and in some cases, we can place the implant immediately after tooth extraction, reducing the number of procedures.

What to Expect During Your Treatment

Your dental implant procedure will be a collaborative effort between our skilled oral surgeons and your restorative dentist, ensuring the best possible outcome for your smile.

Healing after Dental Implant Surgery

Now the healing begins. The length of time varies from person to person, depending upon the quality and quantity of bone. In some cases, implants may be restored immediately after they are placed. The surgeon will advise you on follow-up care and timing. After the initial healing phase, the surgeon places an abutment (support post) or a healing cap onto the dental implant during a brief follow-up visit. This allows gum tissue to mature and provides access to the implant.

Occasionally, impressions are made at the time the implant is placed. This enables the crown to be ready when the implants have healed. How long your mouth needs to heal is determined by various factors. Follow-up care (one to four appointments) is usually needed to ensure that your mouth is healing well and to determine when you are ready for the restorative phase of your treatment.

It may be beneficial to perform a soft tissue graft to obtain stronger, more easily cleaned, and naturally appearing gum tissue in the area around the implant. This process involves moving a small amount of gum tissue from one part of your mouth to the area around the implant. Most often, it is a brief and relatively comfortable procedure.

Whether it’s one tooth or all of your teeth being replaced, your dentist will complete the restoration by fitting the replacement tooth (crown) to the dental implant.

When are dental implants placed?

Implants are often placed several months after extraction. At times, an implant may be placed immediately after extraction of a tooth. This may involve a little more risk, but it simplifies the process—you won’t have to wait for another appointment to place the implant. When infection or other problems with the bone are present, immediate implant placement is not the best treatment.

If your tooth has been missing for some time, the adjacent support bone will likely grow thinner and shrink. This occurs because the natural tooth’s root must be present to stimulate the bone. As much as one-third of your jaw’s thickness can be lost in the year following tooth extraction. If you are missing enough bone, you may benefit from having additional bone grafted into the area. This ensures the implant is adequately supported when placed in the jaw.

How many implants do I need?

Most frequently, one implant per missing tooth is placed. Because many of the larger teeth in the back of your jaws have two or three roots, replacing missing back teeth with larger implants is the most common approach.