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Hello and welcome to the dental implants blog of Jackson Dental. This is a new endeavor we have started to help get the word out about this revolutionary tooth restoration treatment to our Belle Fourche area patients.
When you go out to lunch today, or when you’re out shopping, take a look around at the people you see. You wouldn’t know it, but chances are a good number of those people are suffering from missing teeth. The American College of Prosthodontists reveals that 35 million Americans don’t have teeth, while 178 million are suffering from at least one missing tooth.
Regardless of how many teeth our patients may have missing, dental implants provide a permanent solution that is more comfortable and more reliable than other tooth restoration treatments. Today, Dr. Christopher Jackson is blogging to talk about the implant treatments our office provides based on how many teeth that patient may be missing.
Implant Treatments Provided Here at Jackson Dental
When it comes to dental implant treatment, there are three categories of treatment our office provides. These treatments depend on the number of teeth you are missing and include:
Single Tooth Restorations
The most common form of restorative treatment we provide is for patients who are suffering from a single missing tooth. For these patients, we will use a single implant fixture combined with a dental crown.
During the implant procedure, a titanium implant fixture is placed in the empty spot left behind by your missing tooth. Thanks to the biocompatibility of titanium, this fixture is accepted by your body as a natural tooth root.
Once this fusion process is complete, we will attach an abutment piece to your implant fixture, which will allow a porcelain crown to be connected to the fixture. Once in place, your treatment will be complete.
Multiple Teeth Restorations
More options start to show up when patients come in who are missing more than one tooth. If these missing teeth are distributed throughout your mouth, then treating each tooth with its own implant fixture, abutment, and dental crown is likely the best solution.
However, when a patient arrives with multiple missing teeth that all border each other, then treatment with an implant supported dental bridge will likely be better. For this treatment, implant fixtures are distributed along the implant bridge, usually with one for the first tooth in the row and one for the last tooth in the row. Once these fixtures have healed and properly fused to the jawbone, abutments will be attached and the dental bridge connected at both points.
Full Arch Restorations
For patients who are suffering from a full arch of missing teeth, restoring each and every tooth with its own implant fixture, abutment, and crown usually isn’t feasible. The reason for this is that this many missing teeth is likely to result in jawbone deterioration and gum recession that may not be treatable with supplemental procedures. Simply put, these patients may not have an oral structure strong enough to support this many implants.
Instead, these patients will want to consider treatment with implant supported dentures. This procedure uses four to six implant fixtures that are carefully spaced across your arch. Once they have properly fused to your jawbone, an abutment will be attached to each fixture, and the overdenture connected.
Call and Schedule a Consultation in Belle Fourche, SD
As you can see, we are capable of restoring any number of missing teeth for our patients thanks to dental implants. By using implants in combination with dental bridges and dentures, our patients will have more options when it comes to restoring their missing teeth, allowing them to customize their treatment to better fit their needs and wants.