Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Cosmetic Dental Implants


Cosmetic dental implants are made from a special Titanium alloy known as Tivolloy, which is a safe and non-corrosive metal ideal for implantation in the human jawbone. These implants anchor to the bone, which in turn adapts and grows around them. This adaptive growth essential turns them into artificial tooth roots, which after 3-6 months of healing, form the base for a porcelain cosmetic dental crown. The finished product looks and functions identically to a natural tooth.

Cosmetic dental implants are the best tooth replacement option for any person in good health that has lost one or more teeth. They are much friendlier to healthy teeth and surrounding gum tissue than bridgework because they do not touch surrounding teeth. They also look much more natural than dentures and eliminate all the embarrassing and inconvenient maintenance associated with removable artificial teeth. Cosmetic dental implants have a 98 percent success rate for lower teeth, and are 91 percent successful in upper teeth. After implantation and healing, patients commonly report they feel as though they never lost a tooth.

In fact, there are some benefits that cosmetic dental implants provide that dentures and bridges simply cannot offer. For example, they simply look more natural than dentures and bridges. Because the Tivolloy root and the porcelain crown surrounding it so closely mimic natural tooth structure and function, no one looking at your smile is going to know the difference. Cosmetic dental implants are also a lot easier on your mouth than bridgework. They do not touch or alter adjacent healthy teeth, but rather blend right into the upper or lower tooth line as if they belonged there to begin with. Finally, on a purely subjective level, having a cosmetic tooth implant that looks just like the original tooth you were born with gives you a great deal more self confidence that dentures that make clicking sounds during talking and eating.

There is a surgical procedure involved in cosmetic implant dentistry, but it is taken in steps to minimize discomfort and to make the adaptive, healing process as natural and lifestyle friendly as you need it to be. The process begins with the dentist actually implanting the Tivolloy root into the jaw itself. It takes about 3 to 6 months for the bone to grow around the implant and treat it like a natural tooth root. After the implant is firmly integrated into the bone, the dentist then caps it with a top piece called an abutment that acts as a base for the porcelain crown. The porcelain crown then provides the cosmetic outer replacement for the original tooth enamel, making the implant ultimately indistinguishable from surrounding teeth.

As we have noted, almost anyone in good health can be a candidate for cosmetic dental implants. Specifically, this generally means that a person must be free from periodontal disease, and that there must be sufficient bone structure in the jaw to accept the implant(s) to begin with. Certain conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes and alcoholism are poor risks for implant success. Certain types of drug treatments as well such as immunosuppressive therapy or corticosteroids can also decrease the chance of implant success.

If you are not sure if you qualify for cosmetic dental implants, just ask one of our dentists here at the
Cosmetic Dentistry Center. He or she can quickly any medical condition or treatment will affect the outcome of the procedure, and then recommend the best course of action from there.

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