Enjoy a Full Return to Quality Living with Natural-looking Dental Implants

Missing teeth don’t just affect your appearance – without a complete set of teeth, chewing and eating can destabilize your teeth and cause discomfort. Besides, tooth loss causes jawbone degradation, making your face look older.

Investing in high-quality dental implants from Scott A. Babin, DDS, and Associates in Renton and Edmonds, Washington, is an excellent way to reverse the adverse effects of tooth loss. 

What are dental implants?

Most teeth replacements restore only the visible portion of your tooth. However, dental implants replace your entire tooth, from the root to the crown. A dental implant includes three parts: an implant post, an abutment, and a crown.

A dental implant is a titanium post surgically inserted into your jawbone and acts as an artificial root. Above the implant post, we install an abutment that adds length to your implant and connects it to a crown.

The final piece of an implant is a natural-looking crown, although sometimes your implant can anchor a bridge or denture to restore multiple missing teeth. When a dental implant is restored in your mouth, the results are so natural, and no one will notice it’s a replacement!

The dental implant procedure

Replacing missing or failing teeth with dental implants starts with a consultation with our restorative dental team. The objective is to ensure you are free from cavities, gum disease, and health complications (like uncontrolled diabetes) that may lead to implant failure. 

We also examine your jawbone to ensure it has adequate height and width to support the dental implant. If not, you may bone grafting to rebuild your bone density and volume.

If you are eligible for dental implants, the rest of the procedures involve the following steps:

• Implant surgery: We’ll surgically insert a titanium post into a tooth socket after drilling a small hole into your bone. After inserting the implant, we sometimes place a healing cap or suture the surgical site over the implant to pave the way for healing. This procedure sounds scary, but you’ve nothing to worry about. The process takes about 45 minutes and is done after administering anesthesia to minimize discomfort
• Healing: Your implant needs three to six months to heal and integrate with the jawbone through osseointegration. When fusion occurs, your implant and jawbone become one biological structure that provides a solid foundation for your dental crown
• Implant Uncovery: This minor surgery involves uncovering the dental implant and placing the healing cap. 
• Impressions for Restoration:  Once you’ve healed from the implant uncovery, we take your bite impressions and send to a dental lab to design your custom abutment and crown
• Tooth restoration: Finally! It’s time to restore your implant with a natural-looking dental crown.  We remove the healing cap and install the custom abutment and crown.  If missing several teeth, we may use a dental bridge or denture. Whatever the restoration we use, your tooth replacement looks natural

Implant-based restorations are stable and functional when speaking, eating, or smiling. The implant post also makes you feel like you never lost teeth!

Benefits of dental implants

When you replace your missing teeth with dental implants, you reap many benefits, including: 

• Restored oral function
• Natural appearance
• Stabilized nearby teeth
• Maintains your facial structure
• Jawbone preservation
• Renewed confidence
• Easy maintenance
• Over 95% treatment success rate
• Long-lasting results
• Ability to replace one, several, or all missing teeth

Dental implants are the closest thing to the teeth you just lost. 

To explore the benefits of dental implants, we invite you to contact Scott A. Babin, DDS and Associates. Reach our Edmonds, WA office at (425) 629-8228 or our Renton, WA office at (425) 793-2440.

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