Why Choose EPIC PERIODONTICS & IMPLANT CENTER for Dental Implants?
Start-to-Finish Dental Implant Treatment
Trained Specialist with Over a Decade of Experience
We Accept & Maximize Dental Insurance
What Are Dental Implants?
Dental implants themselves are small, titanium posts that are surgically placed below the gum line and into the jawbone to restore the root structure of missing teeth. Due to their biocompatibility, they’re able to fuse with the jawbone through a process called osseointegration, providing necessary blood flow and support to the bone to keep it from deteriorating over time. Once the implants have fused with the bone, our team can secure a customized crown, bridge, or denture to them to complete your smile.
The 4-Step Dental Implant Process
- The Initial Consultation. The first step of any dental implant journey is to schedule a consultation with Dr. Khan. She’ll gather diagnostic images of your mouth and go over your dental and medical history with you to help determine whether you’re a good candidate for the procedure.
- Dental Implant Surgery. Once you’ve agreed to move forward with treatment, Dr. Khan will schedule your dental implant placement surgery. To secure the implants into your jawbone, she’ll make a small incision in your gums.
- Osseointegration & Abutment Placement. Over the next three to six months, you’ll undergo a healing process as well as osseointegration, where your implants will fuse with the jawbone. Once this is complete, we’ll be able to attach small, metal connector pieces to your implants, called abutments.
- Securing the Restoration. As soon as your customized prosthetic arrives at our office, we’ll call you back in to secure it to your abutments and complete your smile
Benefits of Dental Implants
Dental implants in Mount Prospect offer a wide range of unique advantages that make them stand apart from traditional solutions for tooth loss, like dentures and dental bridges. Not only do dental implants offer a long lifespan, but their natural look and feel can truly be life-changing benefits for patients, allowing you to go about your day-to-day life with more confidence and improved eating and speaking abilities. Read on to learn more about the advantages of dental implants!
Day-to-Day Benefits
Health Benefits
Long-Term Benefits
Who Dental Implants Can Help
Dental implants are an extremely versatile treatment because they’re able to help patients experience a wide range of tooth loss situations, from a single missing tooth to an entire arch. Once Dr. Khan has examined your mouth during your consultation, she’ll draw up a personalized treatment plan to walk you through so you know how we can restore your smile. Based on your unique situation, we may recommend one of three general pathways to a complete smile.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?
Before we set out to replace missing teeth, we need to determine if your mouth is ready to receive them. To qualify for this treatment, you must not have any oral infections, including gum disease or cavities. Your jawbone must also have enough density to bond to the implant post. If you do not meet these criteria at first, Dr. Khan can help you get into a better position. Whether you need a bone graft or gum disease treatment, we can prepare you and set you up for implant success.
Prior to starting any treatment, Dr. Khan will closely inspect your mouth during your consultation and let you know if any preliminary work is required in your specific case.
Missing One Tooth
For a single gap, it’s a one-for-one replacement. In other words, we can secure one dental implant below the gumline. Once it has fused with the bone, we can place the abutment, which comes above the gums but then is covered by a customized dental crown to complete the arch, making eating and speaking easier. The lifelike porcelain material makes this prosthetic tooth blend in perfectly with the surrounding dentition.
Missing Multiple Teeth
If you’re missing two or more consecutive teeth, we can use a bridge. However, unlike its traditional counterpart, an implant bridge is secured to two implants placed on either edge of the gap in your smile. This will eliminate the need for altering your natural teeth. With this option, you could replace anywhere from two to five teeth with just two implants.
Missing All Teeth
To restore an entire row of teeth, we can place anywhere from four to six dental implants along the arch. These will create a strong and sturdy foundation for a customized denture to be attached to with the ability to restore up to 80% of your original bite power. If you have suffered from jawbone deterioration and you need the entire arch, you may also be a good candidate for an All-on-4 implant denture.
Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants
While you might want implants, you’d likely prefer to know their price first. You need to confirm they’re within your budget. That said, the cost of dental implants varies by patient. You can only get a precise estimate by consulting Dr. Khan. From there, we’ll do our utmost to make care affordable. Our team will even explain implants’ pricing factors and payment options. To learn more, just keep reading or call our office for details.
Preliminary Treatments & Dental Implant Surgery
You see, patients often need preliminary work before implant surgery. Such services may include bone grafts, gum disease therapy, tooth extractions, etc. Naturally, these additions will add to the overall treatment cost. Still, you can trust that these procedures are vital; they’ll ensure your new smile’s success. Even better, many of them are partially covered by dental insurance.
At the same time, implant surgery has its own price. The amount is shaped by implant location, your need for sedation, etc. Fortunately, our own Dr. Khan does the surgery in-house. You won’t need to make a separate payment for the surgery.
The Parts of Your Dental Implant
In reality, implant traits also affect your treatment cost. The most common of these are:
How Dental Implants Pay for Themselves
Since they’re cheaper, you might assume dentures and bridges are better than implants. Truthfully, though, dental implants are the more cost-effective option.
For starters, implants incur fewer long-term expenses. Their lifespan – an average of 15-20 years – means they need fewer repair visits. Also, you don’t need to buy pastes and adhesives for them. Proper implant care won’t force you to buy expensive tools.
Furthermore, implants save you money on preventive care. They don’t wear down your teeth or irritate your gums. You can also clean them as easily as natural teeth. In other words, implants lower your risk of costly conditions like tooth decay and gum disease.
Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?
Sadly, dental plans normally won’t cover dental implants. They view such tooth replacements as “medically unnecessary.” To that extent, patients must pay for implants wholly out-of-pocket.
Granted, exceptions do exist. There’s a chance your plan offers partial coverage. You should thus confirm the benefits of your policy beforehand. If you’d like, our team can help you maximize these perks.
Making Dental Implants Affordable
Aside from insurance, there are other ways to make implants affordable. The most notable ones are a dental practice’s payment options. Given the right one, your prosthetics will be budget-friendly.
Look at our practice, for example. We happen to have:
Clearly, we’re eager to provide implants that fit your budget. That being said, book a consultation to learn more about financing them.
Dental Implant Failure & Salvage
Dental implants have an astonishing success rate of over 95%! Dental implant failure is very unlikely, but it still can happen on occasion. If you notice that your dental implant is loose or there is another issue with it, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’d be happy to examine your smile and may even be able to save your dental implant from failing with dental implant salvage treatment. The quicker we can take a look, the better chance there is of saving your newly completed smile.
Dental Implant Post-Op Instructions
After we place your dental implants in your mouth, you will need to go through a recovery period. While that might sound a bit intimidating, the truth is that it is nothing to worry about! Below, we provide practical instructions and insight onto what you can expect as your body is healing. Of course, if you have any questions or concerns after your surgery, you are always welcome to give us a call.
What to Do Directly After Dental Implant Surgery
Following your procedure, blood clots should form at your surgical sites. They play a vital role in your mouth’s healing process, so you should take steps to protect them. For example, you should:
Common Side Effects When Recovering from Dental Implant Placement
In the days after your surgery, you might experience:
If you notice any severe or unusual symptoms after your surgery, call our team right away so we can assist you.
Your Diet After Dental Implant Surgery
Immediately after your surgery, you should adhere to a no-chew diet. Things like pudding, yogurt, mashed potatoes, and brothy soups are all acceptable. When you feel up to it, you can progress to fork-tender foods, such as meatloaf, well-cooked pasta, and scrambled eggs. When the soft tissue at your surgical sites heals, you can resume a fairly normal diet. However, you should continue to be cautious around your dental implants.
Post-Op Health & Oral Hygiene
You can start brushing your teeth the day after surgery, but you should be very cautious not to disturb your surgical sites. Rinsing your mouth regularly with warm salt water can be helpful for reducing inflammation. You can also rinse with an antibacterial mouthwash, but you should avoid products with alcohol in them.
What to Do After Your New Teeth Are Attached
After your new restoration (crown, bridge, or denture) is attached to your dental implants, you will not need to worry about an extensive recovery. Although your gums might be a bit sore and sensitive, you will be able to use your new teeth right away. However, it would be wise to start with soft foods until you get used to the way your restoration feels in your mouth.
Maintaining & Caring for Your Dental Implants
You can trust dental implants to work well and restore your entire smile for a lifetime. Still, the fact remains that you must give them proper care. If you don’t maintain the posts, you’ll suffer implant failure and need to get costly replacements. That would mean spending more time and money to get the right treatment results. Luckily, our team can instruct you on dental implant care in Mt. Prospect. Simply keep reading to learn the right methods, or call our office!
Make Oral Hygiene a Priority
While dental implants don’t decay, they still depend on a healthy mouth. Being placed near weak teeth or gums would make them unstable. In particular, a case of gum disease could loosen any nearby implant posts. It and similar issues could then cause your new tooth (or teeth) to fail.
The good news is that great oral hygiene lets you avoid this outcome. When you brush your teeth twice daily and floss them once daily, you’re more likely to prevent and reduce threats to your implants. Your new restoration(s) will then last much longer and work more effectively.
Eat a Healthy Diet
Dental implants may let you eat freely, but junk food is a risk regardless. Sticky and sugary stuff can wedge between implant posts when you chew it. From there, the debris may lead to tooth decay or gum disease – problems that often lead to implant failure.
In contrast, eating a mouth-healthy diet would help your dental implants thrive. That especially applies when the meals are packed with calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin C. Should you get a lot of these nutrients, you’ll strengthen your jaw and greatly reduce your risk of gum disease.
Break Bad Habits
Dental implants use strong and sturdy materials, so they can take a lot of punishment. That said,
It’s still a good idea to break (or avoid) bad oral habits. These actions could easily put your posts at risk.
You see, several bad oral habits are known to cause implant failure. One example is smoking tobacco – this practice can delay recovery from implant surgery and make the posts fail. Meanwhile, chewing hard objects like fingernails, pencils, or ice cubes may break or chip the prosthetics.
Protect Your Dental Implants
Despite their high durability, dental implants will break if placed under extreme force. That means you should take steps to protect them from injuries.
An ideal way to protect your implant posts is to use a mouthguard. By wearing one for sports, you would shield your teeth (natural or not) from accidents and collisions. A special nightguard would also keep you from grinding your upper and lower arches at night. The best bet is to get both, as these two devices can work to ensure your implants stay safe.
Schedule Regular Dental Checkups
Despite your best efforts, you can’t care for your dental implants alone. Trying to do so would cause you to miss or overlook threats to them. Given that fact, attending regular dental checkups is a good idea. These visits let our team monitor your implants and check their progress.
Don’t forget that dental checkups are the best form of preventive oral care. By diagnosing and treating your smile, they prevent minor problems from threatening your new teeth. A trained dental team has the training, resources, and experience to make that happen. So, always try to get a checkup at least every six months or so.
Dental Implant FAQs
Compared to most other kinds of surgery, the dental implant procedure is easy and low impact. Moreover, we’re professionals who understand the potential risks of the treatment and are able to circumvent them.
As a result, we can promise that your dental implant procedure will be completely safe. If you have any existing health factors that could interfere with your dental implants, like gum disease or low jawbone density, we’ll deal with those issues before you begin treatment.
Dental implants’ attachments to the jaw means that they have an incredible level of durability. Dental implants routinely last over 30 years, and many of them endure for a lifetime if they’re cared for well.
Of course, their exact lifespan depends on how well you take care of them. Infection is one of the most common ways that dental implants fail, so be sure to brush your teeth often, floss daily, and use antibacterial mouthwash to keep your mouth clean.
Patients tend to bounce back pretty quickly from dental implant surgery, so you should be feeling back to normal within a day or two. If you get your dental implant surgery on a Friday, you may not even need to take time off at all.
However, it is recommended that you refrain from strenuous exercise for at least three or four days, as excess blood flow could cause bleeding. If your work involves physical labor, you may need to take three or four days off.
Dental implants are made of the highest quality materials, and their connection to the jaw gives them an incredible level of security that allows them to stand up to just about anything that you throw at them. All this to say that your dental implants are going to feel completely natural once you’re used to them.
The only difference is that your dental implants won’t have nerve endings. While you should still “feel” the tooth, the impressions that you get will actually be from the gums around the implant.