4 Things You Need To Know About Immediate Dental Implants
After getting one or more teeth removed due to decay or damage, you may feel anxious to replace your teeth as soon as possible, especially if the missing teeth are visible when you smile. Fortunately, there are ways to quickly replace missing teeth, including immediate dental implants. Here are four things you need to know about immediate dental implants.
What are immediate dental implants?
Immediate dental implants are tooth restorations that are placed immediately after teeth have been extracted. This timeline stands in stark contrast to the three to six months required to place traditional dental implants.
The benefit of immediate dental implants is that you don't need to wait for months to get your new teeth. With traditional dental implants, you'd need to wear uncomfortable, temporary restorations while you waited to get your implants. Immediate dental implants can be placed the same day that your natural teeth are extracted, or within a week if the implant lab is back up.
How are immediate dental implants placed?
First, your dentist will need to take x-rays of your mouth to help them plan your implant placement. If they determine that you're a good candidate, the procedure can begin. Metal posts will be embedded in your jawbone, in the sockets of the teeth that were extracted. Bone putty, a bone grafting material, may also be placed in the sockets to ensure that the posts stay in place. Temporary false teeth, known as crowns, will then be screwed onto the exposed tops of the posts.
While your new implants will look good right away, you won't be able to chew with them for a while. The posts need time to heal securely into your jaw bone, and even small movements within the first two months after the procedure can disturb the implant and cause it to fail. During this time, simply chew on the other side of your mouth.
Once your jaw bone has fully healed around the posts, your dentist will unscrew the temporary false teeth and replace them with permanent crowns. At this point, you can chew using your new teeth and treat them just as you would any of your natural teeth.
Who can get immediate dental implants?
Not everyone is a good candidate for immediate dental implants. For example, if your teeth needed to be extracted due to damage, the sockets may also be damaged. If the sockets are damaged, they'll need to be allowed to heal before an implant can be placed.
People with severe gum disease also aren't good candidates for implants, so if your teeth needed to be removed due to poor hygiene, you may need to wait until your gums have been treated to get your implants.
Your dentist will let you know—based on the reasons why your teeth are being extracted and your overall health—if you can get immediate dental implants. If not, you may be able to get traditional dental implants later, once the problems have been resolved.
How often do immediate dental implants fail?
Immediate dental implants have been shown to have a low failure rate. A systematic review of 46 studies found that the annual failure rate of these implants is only 0.82%. The mean follow-up time of these studies was 2.08 years, so while these results are very promising, more studies need to be done to determine the long-term success rate.
The studies determined that antibiotic use significantly impacted the survival rate of the implants, so your prosthodontist may prescribe prophylactic antibiotics after your surgery. These antibiotics will help prevent the surgical sites from getting infected and interfering with the healing process.
If you need to have one or more teeth removed, ask your dentist if you're a good candidate for immediate dental implants. For more information on dental extractions and implants, talk to someone at an endodontics office like Renovo Endodontic Studio.
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