Dental implants last for a lifetime with proper care.
Our Long Beach dentist will take x-rays to assess your bone density and determine if you need any bone grafs.
We offer dental sedation to patients with dental anxiety or who would prefer to have reduced awareness during the procedure.
Before we begin the procedure, local anesthesia will be administered to prevent you from feeling any pain.
An incision will be made into your gums and a dental drill will be used to screw the implant into your jawbone.
Over 3 to 6 months, the jawbone will grow around the implant and fuse with it. By forming an artificial tooth root, this anchors the implant firmly in the jaw.
After you have healed and osseointegration has occurred, we will reopen your gums to attach an abutment.
Impressions taken of your teeth are sent to a dental lab that fabricates a custom restoration that attaches to your abutment.
Dr. Girgis will provide you with instructions on how to properly care for your implants. You will need to practice good oral hygiene and avoid smoking.
When a patient is missing one tooth, a single implant is used to replace it. The implant is embedded in the jawbone through a minor oral surgery. After 3 to 6 months of osseointegration, the bone fuses with the implant, forming a stable tooth root. At this point, we can perform the second oral surgery to attach the abutment. Then, a dental crown created from impressions of your teeth can be attached about 6 weeks later.
We can attach a full-arch restoration to a series of implants to treat extensive tooth loss. A removable denture or fixed bridge can be attached to 4 to 6 implants per arch of teeth. This will restore the support to your face and make it easier to chew your food and restore proper pronunciation in your speech.
You need to take care of your dental implants to prevent peri-implantitis, an infection similar to gum disease that can cause implant failure if you don’t practice good oral hygiene. The good news is that dental implants are low maintenance, but you still need to thoroughly brush and floss every day. You will need to attend bi-annual maintenance appointments, where we will thoroughly scale around your implants to prevent bacteria from building up and leading to infection.
Implant failure is incredibly rare. The dental implant procedure has a 98% success rate.