Dental Implants – Los Angeles, CA

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

Before you can begin to plan for dental implant placement, you must first schedule an initial consultation with Dr. Silvera. During this appointment, we will examine your oral cavity with the help of advanced dental technologies that allow us to see a full view of your facial structures. Once we collect our findings and determine the status of your jawbone and your oral and overall health, your implant dentist in Rancho Park will decide if you need preliminary treatments before undergoing implant surgery. These can include tooth extraction, periodontal therapy, or even bone grafting.

Dental Implant Surgery

Once you are cleared for surgery, we will refer you to an outside specialist with the skill and training to place your dental implants in Rancho Park. After receiving local anesthesia, one or more implant posts will be carefully placed and angled within your jawbone to ensure optimal support. The gum tissue will then be closed before healing caps are placed over the tops of your implants.

Dental Implant Osseointegration/Abutment

After surgery, you will return home to begin recovering. This process typically takes anywhere from 3-6 months. The reason for the long healing period is due to osseointegration. This is the process of the bone and implant posts fusing. They must integrate and create a solid foundation if your new smile is to be a success. Once you are fully healed, you’ll return to have your metal abutments, which are small connectors, attached to your dental implants.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations

The final step in the dental implant placement process is receiving your customized restoration. Permanent prosthetics are quite versatile in their ability to treat all types of tooth loss, which is why you can receive a crown, bridge, or denture depending on your needs. Designed by skilled lab technicians who take the specifications and images/impressions provided by our team, you can expect your restoration to look, feel, and act just like your regular teeth. Not only does this offer you greater confidence, but you’ll enjoy the added functionality when it comes to eating and speaking, especially around others.

Day-to-Day Benefits

• Take Back Your Bite: Dental implants restore your bite force and chewing strength so that you can eat more of your favorite foods. This means hard, chewy, crunchy, or otherwise tough foods to break down can be enjoyed with the strongest biting force possible.
• Better Stability: Your replacement teeth will not slip while you’re chewing or talking. This is a common issue for those who use traditional dentures not held in place with dental implants. If you want to avoid embarrassing moments at the dinner table and speak with better clarity, dental implants are a great option.
• Keep Your Oral Care Routine: You can take care of dental implants just like your natural teeth. This means brushing twice a day with a fluoridated toothpaste and flossing daily. Just make sure to clean off any food debris that gets stuck around the crown attached to your implant.

Health Benefits

• Ensure an Even Bite: The implant posts prevent your other teeth from drifting out of place, a common side effect for those with missing teeth. This can not only lead to more gaps in your smile, but changes in how your bite comes together. Uneven bites cause disproportionate stress on your jaw joints, causing long-term discomfort.
• Expand Your Diet: With the ability to eat more foods than you could before, it’s much easier to achieve a well-balanced diet complete with the vitamins and nutrients you need to stay healthy.
• Stop Bone Loss: Dental implants will help preserve your jawbone since the titanium posts continuously stimulate bone tissue, especially when chewing. This also helps prevent changes in your jawbone shape, hollowing of your cheeks, and facial sagging.

Long-Term Benefits

• Maintain a Beautiful Smile: Your new teeth will be almost identical to your natural ones in appearance. That means you can smile, laugh, and eat your favorite foods knowing your teeth look lifelike, regardless of how many you needed to replace.
• True Longevity: Dental implants can last 30 years or longer, making them the best long-term investment for addressing tooth loss. In many cases, dental implants can last for life, something that cannot be said for traditional dental bridges or dentures.
• Have Confidence in Your Treatment: The success rate of dental implants falls between 95% and 98%, making them an extremely reliable option for replacing teeth. This is thanks to the many preparatory steps our office as well as our trusted oral surgeon take prior to completing treatment.

Who’s a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

The majority of adults who are in good overall health are able to get dental implants without any issues. Here are some of the important criteria that we look at to determine candidacy:

• General Health: Placing dental implants requires a surgical procedure, so you need to be in good enough health to undergo minor surgery.
• Oral Health: Cavity and gum disease increase your risk of dental implant failure. If you have any existing oral health issues, they need to be addressed before you get dental implants.
• Jawbone Density: You need to have adequate jawbone density to be a sturdy foundation for your dental implants.

If you aren’t a good candidate for dental implants now, this doesn’t necessarily rule them out for the future. Many patients need to undergo preliminary procedures beforehand. This includes things like tooth extractions, gum disease treatment, and bone grafting. We are more than happy to help you get scheduled for these so you can work toward getting dental implants in the future.

Missing One Tooth

Instead of removing enamel from healthy teeth to make room for a dental bridge, a single implant can be placed directly into the gap. The implant will be restored with a dental crown that has been custom-crafted and shaded carefully so that it blends in seamlessly with the other teeth.

Missing Multiple Teeth

Replacing multiple teeth with implants can mean different things. As just one example, if you have lost several teeth in a row, then they can all be replaced with a dental bridge supported by two implant crowns. Unlike regular bridges, implant bridges do not require alteration of the natural teeth.

Missing All Teeth

Dentures allow you to replace all your teeth simultaneously, and thanks to dental implants, you don’t have to worry about your prosthetic shifting when you don’t want it to. It’s much easier to maintain a varied diet with implant dentures since they restore much more of your bite than regular dentures.

Preliminary Treatments & Dental Implant Surgery

• In certain cases, preparatory treatments are needed before dental implants can be place with confidence. This includes gum disease therapy and bone grafts, both of which improve the integration process and create a healthy environment for the implant.
• On top of that, surgical costs can vary based on how many dental implants you need to have placed. The more implants that are attached, the longer and more complex your surgery, which incurs higher costs.
• Our office partners with local implant experts, which means the fees you incur from the surgeon will be separate from the fees you receive for your permanent restoration.

The Parts of Your Dental Implant

The more implants you need, the more materials will be required to rebuild your smile. Dental implants are made from titanium, a highly durable yet costly material. Furthermore, the manufacturer and brand you receive dental implants from can also have an impact on the cost. The local surgeon our office partners with will be happy to break down where they purchase their implants if you’d like to learn more ahead of your procedure.

Final Dental Implant Restoration

Certain restorations will cost more than others simply because they require more materials and attention to detail to create. For example, single implant crowns will cost less on average than an implant bridge or denture. Regardless of the restoration you need to complete your smile, you can expect it to be incredibly lifelike and blend in with your existing teeth as closely as possible. This ensures you can feel confident showing your smile to those around you.

Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?

In most cases, dental insurance does not cover dental implants. However, there are certain phases of treatment that could receive partial coverage depending on the plan you have. For example, preparatory treatments to make dental implants viable or the restoration itself could be covered by dental benefits. Our team will gladly go over the details of your plan to ensure they are maximized to the fullest extent.

Making Dental Implants Affordable

If dental insurance does not provide sufficient coverage for your care or you don’t have a dental insurance plan, a third-party financing options may be able to help make your treatment affordable. This includes CareCredit, a company that offers payment plans for dental services. By signing up, you can pay for more expensive treatments over several months, rather than all in one amount. This can make even the most expensive dental treatments easy to fit into a budget.

Make Oral Hygiene a Priority

One of the leading causes of implant failure is peri-implantitis, a form of gum disease that occurs when bacteria are allowed to accumulate around the implant post. Brushing and flossing will help keep the harmful bacteria at bay, preventing them from causing any permanent damage to the tissues anchoring your implant posts in place. An optimal oral hygiene routine involves brushing for two minutes twice a day, flossing regularly, and using ADA-approved mouthwash.

Eat a Healthy Diet

There’s nothing wrong with having a sweet tooth, but you have to be careful not to go overboard on sugary or starchy foods that can encourage the oral bacteria responsible for gum disease. Instead, eat fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, leafy greens, and dairy products that are packed with nutrients that can help improve gum health. Eating right helps you ensure that your mouth continues to provide an environment where dental implants can thrive over the long term.

Break Bad Habits

Dental implant posts are made to stand up to the powerful forces of biting and chewing, but even they can suffer from serious damage over time. Biting your nails, chewing on the end of your pen, tearing open packaging with your mouth, and crunching ice are all examples of bad habits that can take a toll on dental implants and your natural tooth enamel. The sooner you drop these habits, the safer your smile will be; if you need help, consider replacing them with new habits that are gentler on your smile, such as keeping sugar-free gum on hand for when you feel the urge to chew something.

Protect Your Dental Implants

A customized mouthguard can help you protect your dental implants in a variety of ways. Some are made to be worn at night to protect your implants (and the rest of your teeth) from unconscious grinding and clenching. Others are designed to keep your entire mouth safe while you’re playing your favorite sport. You can’t always predict accidents that will damage your dental implant, but getting a mouthguard for these situations can help you avoid a lot of issues in the future.

Schedule Regular Dental Checkups

Even if you follow all of the steps listed above, there might be problems with your implants that you haven’t noticed. Continue to visit our office every six months for regular checkups so that we can confirm that your dental implants are in good shape and that there aren’t any complications developing. Catching the small problems early reduces the need for complex treatments later and helps maximize the lifespan of your implants.