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IMPLANTS

We are pleased to offer dental implants as part of our comprehensive dental care.

Implants are permanent titanium fixtures placed into bone where teeth are missing. The neighbouring bone grows around the fixture, locking it securely in place. We can then build up a crown or bridge on top of one or more implants.

Pre-operative assessment is crucial, as implants should not be used in areas where this is ongoing infection, poor bone quality, poor hygiene etc, so we spend a great deal of time planning treatments involving implants.

Implants are increasingly placed either immediately or soon after tooth extraction. This has the benefit of making the process much more gentle, but also maintains the maximum amount of bone, which would otherwise resorb or dissolve away after extraction. If there were to be insufficient bone, we can build it back up by a process known as guided bone regeneration (GBR) or augmentation.

Augmentation may be necessary with any implant placement due to anatomical issues, (i.e. the shape of the bone or socket) and is carried out using either bone collected nearby the implant site, using BioOss (cow bone specially treated to make it completely inert) or Bone Ceramic (an artificial ceramic product). These act to stimulate additional bone growth into the “scaffolding” it provides, and allow more bulk of bone to enhance the implant's integration with bone.

Recent developments in implantology have allowed us to provide more cosmetic results with faster healing and much more predictable long term results.

We always try to preserve your own teeth wherever possible, but sometimes tooth loss becomes inevitable. Now, at least we have a strong, reliable alternative to removable dentures.