What is an implant?

A dental implant is an artificial tooth root replacement and is used in prosthetic dentistry. There are several types of dental implants; the most widely accepted and successful is the titanium osseointegrated implant that can be successfully fused into bone. Dr Lyons will choose the one that best fits your remaining jaw bone.

Why place an implant?

Tooth extraction is quite common due to poor dental health and gum disease. Leaving the missing tooth space empty may not sound too serious, but the consequences of not filling in the space from the missing tooth can include:

The teeth adjacent to your missing tooth can change position to fill the gap;
The loss of your missing tooth’s root can cause your jawbone to shrink, making your face appear prematurely older; and,
A missing tooth in the front of your mouth can affect your smile and your self-confidence.

No Problem

 

What are the benefits of having implants?

For the sake of comparing, let’s say that someone who has all his natural teeth can chew with 100% efficiency. Every tooth that is lost reduces this efficiency. The degree of lost efficiency will depend upon how many teeth are lost and how they are replaced. If a person has lost all of his teeth and is wearing an adequate complete denture the chewing efficiency will be approximately 15 to 18% ( an 85% loss of chewing efficiency!). If the dentures are ill fitting the percentage goes down even more. With the use of dental implants we can get back to 100% efficiency AND preserve the remaining bone. This means that you can chew all the great food you love and you also get the added benefit of bone preservation that will reduce the premature signs of facial ageing seen in typical denture wearers.

Tooth loss creates bone loss which leads to the loss of support of facial tissues and contributes to premature
ageing.

Prosthetic Options for IMPLANTS

FIXED PROSTHETICS

The dental implant will act as a dental root to support either a fixed or removable prosthetic.

 

A-CROWN

A crown supported by an implant is the simplest form of tooth replacement.
A post is first screwed into the implant to which a crown ( that was fabricated at the laboratory to match your existing teeth) is cemented onto. This is the closest thing to having your natural tooth back. The implant supported crown acts just like a natural tooth. It is often unnoticeable and you can chew, speak and floss just as you would with a natural tooth.

 

B- BRIDGE

 

When multiple teeth are missing it is sometimes preferable to do a fixed bridge rather than multiple individual crowns. A fixed bridge may be defined as one or more porcelain teeth (pontic) supported by the pillars of the bridge which we call abutments.

II- REMOVABLE PROSTHETICS

 

BAR SUPPORTED DENTURE

When all your Upper or Lower teeth are missing, there may be not enough bone or gums left to place a fixed prosthetic. Implants may still be used to help support the removable denture. A bar or a ball head may be screwed into the implants so that the denture snaps onto it. The denture is then firmly retained in place and will not move or dislodge itself when speaking or chewing. This in itself may be a life-changing procedure for denture wearers. It is now recognized as the standard of care. I often say that wearing dentures without implants is like riding a horse without a saddle.

 

OVERDENTURE

NEW: MINI-IMPLANTS

Dear patient,
For some years I offer my clients the opportunity to solve the problem of missing teeth by the insertion of implants.
Although this is an unmatched solution for the replacement of one or several lost teeth, I noticed that the use of implants to retain the lower denture was undoubtedly the treatment which created the highest rate of satisfaction among patients. By attaching the prosthesis firmly in place, the patients who underwent this procedure say that it has indeed changed their lives!
Patients say they are able to eat things they were unable to eat before insertion of implants. However, insertion of conventional implants has certain disadvantages. First, it is very expensive, then, it requires more than an appointment that may be spread over more than 6 months. Finally, you have to have enough bone to receive these implants.
There is a NEW PROCEDURE that finally has been developed to address these problems: MINI-IMPLANTS. Combined with special o-ring attachments (SNAPs) that firmly anchors the prosthesis in place these mini-implants have the advantage that they can be placed in one appointment and the patient can oftrn eat immediately after their insertion.
To make the procedure more accessible to my patients, I have set an affordable introductory price of $ 2000 to fix your bottom dentures with 4 mini-implants.

For more details, visit www.ouisnap.com

 

Mini-Implant supported overdenture