Dental implants are, bar none, the best tooth replacement option available. Dental implants are natural-looking, allow you to eat your favorite foods, require no special care and can last a lifetime. But they do have one limitation. The dental implant process can take time. How long it takes depends on your oral health.
Immediate Placement
If you are having a tooth extracted, it is often possible to place the dental implant immediately after the extraction if you have good oral health and bone density.
Osseointegration: Three To Six Months
Dental implants work just like natural teeth because they are integrated into your jawbone, just like natural teeth. To ensure the survival of your dental implants and their proper function, you normally have to wait for this integration to occur before we can place the final restoration on top of the implant. For some people, this may take as little as three months, but it usually takes about six months.
Bone Graft: Three To Four Months
Sometimes periodontal disease destroys so much bone around your teeth that it is impossible to place a dental implant without first restoring the bone. In a bone graft procedure, bone or bone-like material is placed at the site where you are going to have your dental implants and then has to integrate with your own bone. The length of time necessary for this step depends on how much bone was lost and how quickly your bone heals, but it typically takes at three to four months.
Periodontal Disease
If you do not have good oral health at the time you are looking to get your dental implants, the procedure may take longer. Periodontal disease can cause your dental implants to fail, so it is important to get it treated before we place your dental implants. How long periodontal disease treatment takes depends on how serious your periodontal disease is, how well you follow home-care instructions, and other factors that can be hard to predict.
Results Can Last A Lifetime
The dental implant procedure may be completed in a day, or it may take a year or more to complete. The good news is that, no matter how long your procedure takes, dental implants have been proven to last several decades.
Learn More About Dental Implants
To learn how long to expect your dental implant procedure to take, please contact Prestige Oral Surgery today at 732-297-7000.
