Dental Implants Frisco

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

At your initial consultation, Dr. Phillips will examine your oral health and your medical history to see if you are a good candidate for dental implants. If necessary, he will work with you to treat any underlying conditions such as gum disease. He can also formulate a treatment plan to perform any necessary tooth extractions or provide you with a bone graft procedure if needed. Once these are underway, we can plan the rest of your dental implant journey step-by-step, including the anticipated timeline and cost.

Dental Implant Surgery

For a treatment as important as dental implants, it’s understandable that you’d want to stick with a dentist who is familiar with your oral health. That’s why Dr. Phillips is proud to offer these prosthetics in-house.

The dental implant surgery process will generally follow the same basic steps. First, Dr. Phillips will numb the area receiving the implant or implants. He will then make an incision in your gums, place the implant posts in your jawbone, close your gums, and place a protective cap over the posts. Once your procedure is complete, you are free to go home and rest. Dr. Phillips will provide you with detailed aftercare instructions to ensure that your healing goes smoothly.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment Placement

The next step to the dental implant process is osseointegration. This is when the implant fuses to gum and jawbone and is necessary for your implant to stay in place securely and permanently. The entire osseointegration process can take between three and six months. Once your mouth has begun to heal, you will need to return to Frisco Dental Care for another small surgery to place the abutments on your implants. While you heal over the next few weeks, your final restoration (crowns, bridge, or denture) will be crafted from the impressions Dr. Phillips took of your mouth.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations 

Finally, you will return to see Dr. Phillips again to have your restorations placed. This could be a crown, bridge, or an implant denture, depending on how many teeth you are replacing. At this time, Dr. Phillips will check to make sure your bite is comfortable, and once you’re satisfied with your results, you’ll be free to go and enjoy your newly rebuilt smile!

Day-to-Day Benefits

Good news: you won’t have to wait too long to enjoy the benefits that come with dental implants! Once you’ve recovered from the procedure, you’ll notice:

• A Boost to Your Self-Esteem – Oftentimes, patients are concerned that their replacement teeth will look or feel unnatural. You won’t have to worry about that with dental implants! Since they are anchored to your jawbone and topped with a custom restoration, they will have a positive impact on your overall confidence.
• Ease Enunciating Clearly – Like many other patients, you may have noticed a considerable change to your speaking patterns following tooth loss. Fortunately, dental implants can fill the gaps in your smile and, in the process, help you to enunciate clearly again.
• Restored Bite Strength – While dental bridges get their strength from the adjacent teeth and dentures get their strength from the gums, dental implants are different; they are secured to the jawbone. The artificial roots for your new teeth boost your chewing power, allowing you to enjoy a variety of foods again.

Health Benefits

The benefits of dental implants extend to your oral and overall health. In fact, rebuilding your smile with this state-of-the-art solution can:

• Prevent Dental Drift – It usually doesn’t take long for the teeth surrounding the gap to drift into the open space. Although this may seem insignificant, the change to your bite can lead to several issues, including chronic jaw pain. Dental implants can help prevent that from happening!
• Preserve Your Jawbone – Unlike other tooth-replacement options, dental implants are anchored to the jawbone. This provides the stimulation necessary to prevent it from deteriorating.
• Prevent Nutritional Deficiencies – Patients who are limited to a soft foods diet often experience nutritional deficiencies. If this sounds all too familiar, then you’ll be happy to hear that dental implants can restore up to 80% of your bite force, making it significantly easier to eat healthy, well-balanced meals.

Long-Term Benefits

Finally, dental implants are loved by patients and dentists alike because they offer several long-term benefits, including:

• They Are Cost-Effective – Oftentimes, patients assume that the cost of dental implants will exceed their budget. However, dental insurance providers often cover a portion of the price. Plus, they usually last much longer than traditional bridges and dentures, making them worth the higher upfront investment.
• They Help Preserve Your Face Shape – As we mentioned above, dental implants help prevent your jawbone from deteriorating. This, in turn, helps preserve your youthful face shape.
• They Can Last for Decades – On top of all of that, dental implants can potentially last for decades with only minimal maintenance (i.e., brushing twice a day, avoiding tobacco products, scheduling a dental checkup every six months).

Who Is a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

In order to determine if you’re a good candidate for dental implants, our Frisco dental team needs to consider your oral and overall health. More specifically, we need to determine if your jawbone is strong enough to support them, if your gums are healthy, and if you’re willing to break harmful habits, like smoking. If we determine that you’re a good candidate, then we will move on to the next step of the process: determining how many dental implants are needed to restore your complete and confident smile.

Missing One Tooth

Naturally, you only need one dental implant post if you have lost a single tooth. Once it has fused to the jawbone, we will secure a custom dental crown on top that matches the appearance of your natural teeth. In addition to looking and feeling extremely lifelike, single dental implants are a good alternative to a traditional dental bridge because they don’t force us to make changes to your remaining teeth’s enamel.

Missing Multiple Teeth

If you are missing several teeth throughout an arch, we can replace each one individually. However, patients don’t usually go this route because there are more efficient and cost-effective options, like an implant bridge. With two dental implant posts and a dental bridge, it is possible to replace three or more teeth in a row all at once. On top of that, a partial denture can be secured to dental implants in order to replace teeth that have been lost in different parts of the mouth.

Missing All Teeth

If you don’t have any of your natural teeth left, we have good news: an entire row of missing teeth can be replaced from the roots up with dental implants. About four to eight dental implant posts can support a full denture. You have the option of either getting a removable implant denture that can be taken out at any time or a fixed implant denture that always stays in your mouth.

Are you interested in learning more about the different types of dental implants that we offer, including which one we recommend for you? If so, take the next step: schedule a consultation with our team at Frisco Dental Care.