If you have lost some or all of your teeth, you may be considering a restorative procedure to enhance the look and functionality of your mouth. Although some tooth-replacement applications, such as dentures, may offer false teeth to replace those that you have lost, the most natural-looking and feeling applications involve oral surgery.
Here are a few restorative applications that are made possible by oral surgery.
Implant-based Single Tooth Replacement
Dental implants must be surgically placed, because they are inserted through the gums, directly into the jawbone. The surgical procedure is performed in-office with local anesthesia.
After the implant is positioned in the bone, the resulting wound is permitted to heal. The healing process, which is called osseointegration, causes the fusion of the implant with the bone of the jaw as the bone cells grow around the implanted device.
Once the implant has stabilized in its position, the gums around it can be contoured during a separate surgical procedure. The contouring makes the completed restoration difficult to discern from a natural tooth.
After the wound from the gingival-contouring procedure heals, the implant is topped by a connector and finally by a dental crown.
Installation of an All-on-four Appliance
If a full palate of teeth are missing, an all-on-four appliance is often a suitable restorative option. An all-on-four device is a prosthetic appliance that is connected to four strategically placed dental implants.
The connection between the implants and the all-on-four appliance holds the false teeth firmly in position. Thus, there is no movement as the patient eats or speaks. Additionally, the all-on-four device is not removable.
During the surgical procedure that connects the device to the supporting implants, the all-on-four appliance is attached to the implants using screws, which can only be removed by a dentist. Thus, the all-on-four appliance is considered permanent.
Dental Bridge-based Restorations
A dental bridge can be used to replace one or more teeth. The bridge is fixed into position by its connection to dental implants or existing natural teeth.
The bridge contains a dental crown on each end of the appliance. The crowns are placed over the implants or abutment teeth.
If dental implants are used to fix the bridge in the mouth, abutments must be added to the implants to allow the connection with the bridge. If natural teeth are covered by the crowns, the teeth are surgically reduced to permit the crowns to cover them easily.
For more information about oral surgeries that are used to restore the teeth, schedule a consultation with a dentist in your local area.
Share27 May 2018
When the bottled water craze began, I jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else who was drinking water from bottles instead of from the tap. I wasn't sure why bottled water was healthier, but I liked the taste. When I went for my next dental check-up, I had my first cavity in a while, so I had it filled and didn't think much of it. Well, I had two more during my next check-up after that, and I began trying to think of why my teeth were suddenly going bad. The only change in my habits was the switch to bottled water, so I made the switch back to tap water and my teeth began to improve. I created this blog to encourage others who have begun getting cavities suddenly to look into their changes in habits. They may find they made a change similar to mine.