Dental Implants Arlington

What Are Dental Implants?

Dental implants are small titanium posts that are surgically placed within the jawbone beneath the gumline. They’re designed to restore the root structure of missing teeth, allowing you to enjoy restorations that look and feel natural. They’re made from biocompatible materials like titanium that are able to naturally fuse with the jawbone through a process called osseointegration, providing a variety of health benefits.

The 4-Step Dental Implant Process

1. The Initial Consultation: The first step of every dental implant treatment is an initial consultation with Dr. Gray. You’ll receive a thorough oral examination to determine whether you’re a good candidate for the procedure. Dr. Gray will outline your treatment plan and walk you through it, making sure all of your questions are answered before the next step.
2. Dental Implant Surgery: When you decide to move forward with getting dental implants, our team will help you schedule an exam and consultation with the oral surgeon we partner with for the placement part of the procedure. They will surgically place the dental implants beneath the gumline to replace the missing roots of your teeth.
3. Healing & Osseointegration: The dental implant usually requires 2-3 months to heal before we can make the restoration. Most of the time we do not connect anything to the implant during this healing period. During this time, your implants will also fuse with your jawbone through a process called osseointegration.
4. Restoration Attachment: After the healing period, Dr. Gray will take a physical impression or digital scan for the dental lab to create the dental restoration. It usually requires four weeks for the lab to make the crown or bridge. We also use dental implants to secure dentures in a different, but similar, process.

Partnering with Local Specialists for Surgical Placement

Dr. Gray has helped numerous patients achieve fully restored smiles with the help of dental implants and partners with trusted local specialists to place them. Once you are approved and cleared for treatment, Dr. Gray will refer you to an oral surgeon we partner with for the careful placement of each implant into the appropriate areas of your jawbone.

Benefits of Dental Implants

Patients who are considering dental implants in Arlington will want to know why they are a superior choice over other, more traditional tooth replacement solutions. Some of the most identifiable benefits include:

• Improved aesthetics and boosted confidence
• Better oral health because of the continuous stimulation to the jawbone
• Ease of maintenance
• A restoration that is designed to last decades or longer
• A natural-looking solution that offers full restoration of your smile
• Greater stability and fully restored functionality

Indications for Dental Implants

If you are looking for a versatile solution, dental implants are the desired method of treatment. Not only can they replace one missing tooth, but they can also restore your smile if you are missing multiple or all of your teeth.

Missing One Tooth

To replace a single missing tooth, a dental crown is attached to one dental implant post. Sometimes, two consecutive teeth can also be replaced with a single implant post by fusing two crowns and anchoring them to the implant.

Missing Multiple Teeth

For three or four consecutive missing teeth, our team will need to attach a series of fused dental crowns, known as a bridge, to two dental implant posts, one on each end. This will give you the completed smile you deserve without requiring additional implants to hold the bridge in place.

Missing All Teeth

When patients have more extensive tooth loss, an implant denture may be recommended. We’ll use partials to fill gaps in patients’ smiles, and full dentures to replace an entire arch of missing teeth. Like their traditional, removable counterparts, these dentures are crafted by molding a gum-colored base that fits between remaining teeth or against the gum line and supports replacement teeth. Rather than being anchored by clasps connected to surrounding teeth or suction between the denture and gums, these prosthetics are attached to between four and six implant posts.

All-on-4 / Hybrid Dentures

Patients interested in an implant denture who may not have adequate jawbone density to support a traditional implant denture may still be candidates for All-on-4 dentures. These dentures are supported on just four implant posts. All-on-4 utilizes the denser part of the jawbone at the front of the mouth to provide support for all four implants rather than spreading them over the length of the jaw. During a coordinated appointment with a local oral surgeon, two of the implant posts are positioned vertically, and the other two are inserted diagonally from the back of the mouth to the front. This provides support for the whole denture that is immediately placed on top.

Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants

Dental implants are one of the costlier tooth replacement options available; however, when comparing their benefits to those of other solutions, it is easy to conclude that choosing dental implants will be much more cost-effective in the long run. While most dental insurance companies do not offer coverage for implant placement, there may be other aspects of treatment that they will cover, such as your initial consultation or custom-made restoration.

No matter if insurance covers any or all of your procedure, Dr. Gray’s team will be happy to assist in helping to make your remaining out-of-pocket expenses more manageable. You may choose to pay in the form of cash, credit, or personal checks, or if you are having difficulty paying for the remaining cost, we are happy to be a partner with CareCredit, which offers a short term, no-interest financing plan or extended financing plans up to 60 months with interest.