Multiple Missing Teeth - Lexington, SC

Missing a Few Teeth?

Consider the Alternatives to Traditional Dentures

Dentures have been a well-known teeth replacement option for so many years that it’s understandable why some people may believe they’re the only way to reclaim a full smile. They remain popular today due to their generally positive results, and this may be part of the reason that they’re top of mind for so many people. They have some disadvantages, however. When you’re eating a meal or having a conversation, your full or partial dentures may become loose at any time, causing embarrassment and frustration. They’re kept in your mouth using adhesives, but sometimes adhesives don’t keep a firm grip. In addition to esthetic concerns, dentures can have negative effects on your gums and jawbone. They may rub against the gums, causing irritation, and they’re prone to slipping. More significantly, since they don’t have natural or artificial roots, they don’t give the jaw the stimulation it needs to remain healthy. As a result, the jawbone can begin to recede.

The team at Bela Family Dentistry of White Knoll is extensively trained in recreating smiles that look natural, feel comfortable, protect your dental health, and function properly. We accomplish this using implant supported bridges, which offer the primary benefit of dental implants—a secure foundation in the jawbone. Due to their design, traditional bridges often require you to get some of your healthy teeth filed down to allow them to fit over your gums. Some dentures also typically include at least a portion of an artificial palate that covers your natural soft palate. This means that you lose some of the taste and tangible experience from eating foods. Why sacrifice part of your teeth or your enjoyment of meals when dental implants in Lexington, SC allow you to keep them and can even provide a tremendous confidence boost?

Partial Dentures

Tooth Supported Bridges

Implant Supported Bridges

3 Phases to a Restored Smile

Phase 1: Consultation

We begin all dental implant treatments with a personalized one-hour consultation in our Lexington, SC office. This is where we get to understand your specific smile goals, evaluate your overall dental health, and review your pricing and payment options. Using our in-house CT equipment, we scan your mouth to capture 3D images that enable us to pinpoint all of your dental health issues and formulate a customized treatment plan. If you’ve lost some teeth, the odds are that you’re a candidate for dental implants. Based on your current state of dental health, you may need to undergo some additional treatments to make implant placement possible, such as removing any decayed teeth that you’re going to have replaced with implants and bone grafting to reconstruct your jawbone after recession. Certain medical issues may also affect your candidacy for dental implants.

Phase 2: Surgery

Your comfort is always our priority throughout all stages of your care. When you come back for dental implant placement after your consultation, we provide pain-free treatment with IV sedation. We’re proud to offer this advantage, which essentially puts you into a sleeplike state during your procedure. You won’t feel anything, nor will you remember anything afterward. We offer several types of sedation to help you stay completely comfortable no matter what type of treatment you’re seeking! After administering sedation, we’ll do any necessary tooth extractions or bone grafting before starting on implant placement. Doing all of these during a single appointment enables us to complete your treatment in fewer visits! In instances of severe jawbone deterioration, we may need to let your jawbone heal for a few months before we place your implants in order to ensure greater stability.

After anesthesia and supplemental procedures are taken care of, we’ll embed durable dental implant posts in your jawbone. The total number of posts can vary, but our approach is to place as few as needed for maximum stability while limiting the number of insertion sites. In positioning these posts, we take multiple factors into consideration, including the optimal angle for a comfortable fit, your bone density, and the position of your dental nerves. We only use implants manufactured by the biggest names in the industry, including BioHorizons®, Nobel Biocare, and Straumann®, so you can be sure you’ll receive the highest quality materials from us to complement our high-quality care. Following placement, we can typically attach a temporary dental implant bridge, allowing you to eat, speak, laugh, and smile virtually right away without pain or embarrassment!

Phase 3: Healing and Final Restoration

Healing can take up to six months after implant placement. That includes osteointegration, a process during which your dental implants permanently fuse with the jawbone as your body accepts them as a natural component. While you’re recovering with your temporary restorations you’ll gradually be reintroduced to life with a full set of teeth. You’ll also return to our office periodically so that we can monitor your progress and make sure that you’re healing properly. With osseointegration completed, we’ll have you come back to receive your customized final bridge. We’ll remove the temporary one for good and in its place put the one we had created just for you. To make sure you have a comfortable and long-lasting fit, we may do some minor last-minute adjustments. Our job isn’t complete until you have the complete, gorgeous smile that you want!

A Restored Smile Is Affordable

Implant supported bridges can fundamentally change your life, enabling you to fully enjoy daily activities like eating a meal or holding a conversation once again. They can also elevate your confidence to a level that seemed out of reach when you were missing teeth. It’s not easy to put a price tag on something that provides that value. It’s also important to consider that no two implant cases are exactly the same. We review your health, assess your smile goals, determine the number of implants you need, and consider other factors to establish your cost.

Giving you the smile that you desire is our guiding objective, and we work hard to remove any obstacles so that you can have it. To make this possible, we’ve also partnered with leading financing companies to offer you flexible payment options that you can manage. This includes splitting your final sum into smaller monthly payments. While insurance coverage varies for dental implants, we suggest that you contact your dental insurance provider to see if any portion of your treatment is covered under your plan. For your convenience, we will file insurance claims for you for any kind of treatment you need. We’re eager to meet you and discuss how we can restore your full smile and make missing teeth a thing of the past for you.

Ready to upgrade your smile?

Request your personalized consultation today!

Multiple Missing Teeth