What to expect with dental implants
If you want to replace your missing teeth with dental implants in Berkshire, you need to know more or less what to expect, as it can be quite a journey from gaps to lovely new teeth that work as well as your natural ones once did.
The consultation
This is the first stage of the process, and involves you coming in to see us at Old Windsor Dental Practice so that we can find out what you need and give your teeth and jaw a thorough examination. You can expect for us to take x-rays and scans of your jawbone because we need to find out if it is in good shape. Your jawbone needs to be strong and dense enough for it to integrate well with your implants and then to withstand the strain put on the implants when you chew with them. If your jawbone has started to deteriorate, we may be able to build it back up again with bone grafts, or we may be able to use extra long implants that anchor into your cheekbones, or to do a sinus lift. All this can add a few months to your treatment time.
Implant surgery
This takes place under local anaesthetic, which is plenty to numb any pain because there are far fewer nerve endings in the jawbone than the teeth. That said, if you are especially anxious, we can offer you either intravenous or oral sedation so that you can feel really relaxed while we put your implants in. For this we need to drill a channel into the bone, and then either tap or screw in the implants.
Healing
It takes several weeks for the dental implants to integrate with the jawbone. For the first 24 hours, we recommend bed rest, and then a liquid diet of soups and smoothies for the next week. Over-the-counter painkillers should be enough to numb any pain.
Your crowns
We put these in place once the implants have integrated. One implant can hold up to three crowns. These are made from dental porcelain to match your teeth in size, shape and colour.
