Dental care is a necessary part of healthcare for your whole family, from the toddler coming into the office for the first time to grandma or grandpa who needs Ellicott City preventive dental care. One of the services rendered is dental implants, which is a treatment for a tooth or teeth that are missing, cracked or broken. Exactly what is the process for getting dental implants? Read on to find out.
The Initial Examination and Installation of the Post
Before the procedure, the dentist takes X-rays of the patient’s mouth as well as the affected tooth or teeth. After this, the dentist removes the tooth and implants a post. This post is usually made of titanium, though some are made of zirconium. These materials are used because they fuse easily with the bone of the jaw, and they don’t corrode. It takes several weeks for the metal and bone tissue to fuse, and during this time the patient needs to take special care of their dental hygiene.
Installing the Anchor and Crown
After the dentist sees that the bone and metal have fused together, they open up the gum over the post and install an anchor. They attach a crown to this anchor after the gum heals up. The crown can be made of porcelain, metal or metal with a layer of porcelain.
To learn more about what is the process for getting dental implants, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Family & Cosmetic Dentistry in Ellicott City. Besides dental implants, they also provide root canal therapy, oral surgery and Ellicott City preventive dental care.
Ellicott City Dentistry provides gentle, family oriented dental care to the adults and children of this community.
