How are Dental Implants Placed?
If a dental professional approves your eligibility to undergo implants, then you can proceed with the surgery. To give you a preview of what to expect when getting the procedure, here is how a dental implant is placed:
- First Stage
- According to your preference, your dentist may give you antibiotics and pain killers or you might ask to be sedated through an intravenous line injected in your arm. After this has been settled, the doctor will cut through your gums to expose the bone. The implants will then be placed in the hole after drilling the bone. To ensure that the implant is placed accurately, some dentists take an x-ray before stitching the gums up.
The entire process usually takes up one hour for single dental implant. The duration for this process varies depending on how many implants must be placed and in the event that you get a bone graft simultaneously.
- Your dentist will provide you with antibiotics and pain killers after the initial process of dental implant. After seven to ten days, head back to your dentist’s clinic to have the stitches removed.
- Usually three to four months for the lower jaw and five to six months for the upper jaw, you have to wait for the bone to connect with the implant.
- Second Stage
- You are ready for the second step if the implant settled well with its surrounding bone. A small incision in the gum, done by your dentist, will reveal the implant.
- Your dentist will now use a metal healing collar to replace a protective screw from the implant.
- The healing cap resembles a small metal cylinder above the gum area where your tooth is located. It retains the space around the implant so that the gum heals correctly.
- The healing collar or cap looks like a small metal cylinder that sustains the space between the gum and the implant to ensure correct healing. The healing collar must be sitting above your gums where your supposed tooth would be.