What does it actually feel like going from having a tooth with a problem, to having it removed, to having an implant, and then having the implant crown all finished and done? That’s a very reasonable question to ask.
We do use implants for a variety of things. They’re very versatile, but I’m just going to talk you through losing a single tooth and having it replaced with a single implant crown.
A patient comes to us, either by referral or having found us themselves, and they have a toothache, an infected tooth, or whatever it may be. The first stage is to take a CT scan and assess very carefully how much bone there is around the tooth. We also need to make sure that any infection around the tooth hasn’t damaged the bone too severely, because that will change the way we have to approach the case.
If there’s no infection, these are the most straightforward cases that we have. So, there’s a tooth that’s broken down and is no longer restorable. The first stage is obviously to get everything ready and then remove that tooth as carefully as possible. We use a particular technique, an atraumatic technique, so we don’t do any damage to the bone.
Some patients, depending on where in the mouth the tooth has been lost, will simply leave the space and let the infection resolve, or let the socket heal. We then come back later, normally six to eight weeks later, get the gum out of the way, open up the socket, and pop the implant in. Basically, we make the socket slightly bigger, find an implant that’s the right size, screw it in, slowly close the gum back over it, and Bob’s your uncle.
The patient then has their stitches removed after two weeks, and we will review the implant between ten and twelve weeks later. By that time, it’s fully osseointegrated, it’s locked into the bone, and we can then go through our normal process of taking impressions and having a crown made.
The problem is the bit in the middle. As I said before, some people will just leave a space, depending on where it is. Some people will wear a simple plastic partial denture. They’re not very sexy, but they do the job and, more importantly, it’s easy to take them out, do what we need to do next in terms of taking impressions and things, and then pop them back in again. So it’ll never be the best part of your life, but it will do the job.
Other patients may have a bite that’s inappropriate, so that the lower teeth might hit the roof of the mouth, leaving nowhere to put a partial denture. In that case, we would place an adhesive bridge, which is basically a false tooth stuck onto the back of the tooth next to it.
That’s fine. They’re a bit of a nuisance because every time we come to do anything, we have to take it off, clean everything up, and stick it back on again. So it does add to the time.
You don’t have to walk around with a space if you don’t want to.