Dental Implants — McKinney, TX

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

The first step to receiving dental implants is having a consultation with Dr. Parmar, during which she will inspect your mouth and review your oral health and medical history to ensure that you are a suitable candidate. If she finds that you aren’t ready to receive dental implants, you may be able to become a good candidate after receiving treatments such as gum disease therapy, tooth extractions, or bone grafts. Once you’re cleared for dental implants, we’ll be happy to develop an appropriate treatment plan and make sure that you understand the associated costs.

Dental Implant Surgery

We place dental implants in-house, meaning that you won’t have to worry about dealing with a separate oral surgeon who uses a different pricing structure. To place a dental implant, Dr. Parmar will begin by administering a local anesthetic to ensure your comfort, and you may also receive sedation treatments if needed. She will then make an incision in your gum tissue where the restoration will be placed before inserting the titanium post into the jawbone. After this, she will close the wound in the gums and place a protective cap over the post.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment

In the months after your implant is placed, the titanium post will fuse with the surrounding bone tissue through the natural process of osseointegration. Once this is complete, you will come back to our office for a minor procedure to have the abutment piece placed on top of the post. Your customized restoration will be crafted based on impressions of your mouth while you heal over the following weeks.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restoration(s)

When your crown, bridge, or denture is complete, you’ll come back to our office so it can be securely attached to your implant or implants. We’ll make sure that your restoration fits comfortably and make any necessary adjustments. You’ll then be all set to greet the world with your beautifully restored smile.

Day-to-Day Benefits

Being grounded in the jawbone, implants are far more secure than traditional tooth replacements. As a result, you can talk, laugh, smile, and eat in public without thinking about your mouth! You don’t have to be concerned that your prosthetic teeth will slip out of place or embarrass you at inopportune times. Also, you can be sure that your jawbone will keep its youthful shape day after day, helping you have more confidence.

Health Benefits

In fact, dental implants can restore up to 70 percent of your original biting force, whereas dentures only manage to give you about 25 percent of the biting force you used to have with natural teeth. With a more powerful bite, you can enjoy more nutritious foods and a varied diet, potentially giving you a longer, healthier life. At minimum, you can have a higher quality of life! The increased stimulation for the jawbone also helps to keep it strong even as you age.

Long-Term Benefits

Dental implants can go a long, long time before needing replacement. In fact, dental implants have been known to last more than 30 years! Basically, you could enjoy your replacement teeth for the rest of your lifetime. Plus, one of the most convenient aspects of dental implants is that they require the same daily maintenance as natural teeth, meaning you just need to brush and floss them (and come to our office for regular checkups, of course).

How could dental implants change your life for the better? Schedule a consultation with us to find out!

Bone Grafting

For a bone graft, we’ll take bone tissue from another part of your body (or from a donor). This grafting material is then placed onto the weakened part of your jawbone that needs to be thickened. Then, the tissue around the area is closed over it for healing. Over the coming months, the grafted material will integrate with the jawbone, which will naturally promote new bone tissue growth. Once you’ve fully healed, your jawbone will be dense enough to properly support your dental implants.

Sinus Lifts

Your sinus cavity sits just above your upper back molars. If the jawbone is too thin in these areas and you attempt to place a dental implant, the dental implant could end up poking into the sinus cavity! Not only would this be very uncomfortable and leave you susceptible to infection, but the dental implant wouldn’t have enough tissue to fuse with and would likely fail.

A sinus lift is a specific type of bone graft that can address this. A window will be made in your jawbone to access the thin membrane that holds your sinus cavity. The membrane is carefully pushed up and away from the jawbone, and then the empty space is filled in with bone grafting materials. The area is sealed again, and within a few months, that area of your jawbone should be thick enough to accommodate a dental implant.

Ridge Expansion

In some cases, your jawbone ridge may not be wide enough to fully encompass a dental implant. A thin dental ridge can often be an issue for patients who have delt with severe tooth loss for an extended period of time. A ridge expansion can be used to provide more depth to the jawbone ridge. For this procedure, the jawbone ridge will be gently separated into two parts: the inner portion and the outer portion of your jaw. The space between is then filled with grafting material, which will encourage new tissue growth and thicken the ridge.

While treatments like ridge expansions, sinus lifts, and bone grafts will often add more time and expense to your dental implant treatment, they will maximize your chances of a successful treatment with results that last a lifetime!

Does Getting Dental Implants Hurt?

Before the procedure begins, your mouth will be numbed with a local anesthetic. You will also most likely be sedated which lowers your body’s ability to register pain. Because of these measures, you shouldn’t feel any pain throughout the duration of the placement procedure. However, your mouth may be sore for a few days afterwards. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to manage this discomfort. Take prescribed and over-the-counter medication as directed, and use a cold compress. If the discomfort worsens instead of improving after two to three days, give us a call.

What Can Cause Dental Implants to Fail?

It is highly uncommon, but dental implant failures can occur, usually for one of two reasons.

• Peri-implantitis: This is a form of gum disease that can develop as a result of poor oral hygiene. This can damage the bone and gums supporting the implant and ultimately cause the implant to fail over time.
• Failed Osseointegration: Sometimes, the implant fails to integrate with the jawbone, especially in patients who had low jawbone density to begin with. This is why it is so important that you have a strong, healthy jawbone before moving forward with the procedure.

Other causes of dental implant failure include chronic teeth grinding, tobacco use, poor oral hygiene, certain medications, radiation to the head and neck, and certain health conditions, like diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and autoimmune disorders.

Will I Have to Take Off Work for Dental Implant Surgery?

Most patients only need to take one or two days off work when they get dental implants, but everyone is different. If your job is physically demanding, you may want to take at least three to four days off. Heavy exercise can divert blood from the implant site and delay healing. Dr. Parmar will be able to give you a more specific recommendation for your individual case.

Can I Get Dental Implants If I’m Diabetic?

If your diabetes is under control, your odds of dental implant success are generally comparable to those of nondiabetic patients. However, uncontrolled diabetes can slow down the healing process and make it more difficult for your implants to integrate with your jawbone. If you are looking to get dental implants, talk with your endocrinologist or primary care doctor about getting your blood sugar levels under control before moving forward in the dental implant process.

How Successful Are Dental Implants?

Dental implants have a startlingly high success rate. It’s been found that over 95% of dental implants are successful at 20 years so long as you take care of them. You’re in good hands with us, so you can depend on our expertise for a successful surgery.

Long-term, the viability of your dental implants depends on a few factors. For one, molars will receive more stress on a daily basis, meaning that they’re more likely to fail early. You also need to keep up with your dental hygiene, including seeing us for preventive care twice a year.

What Should I Do If My Dental Implant Feels Loose?

If you ever notice that your dental implant is loose, this is a sign of impending failure. This is especially true if you’re experiencing a fair amount of pain or swelling around the area.

However, the jawbone doesn’t have any nerve endings in it, meaning that it’s possible that the implants could come loose without you feeling it. It may also happen that your restoration could come loose from the rest of your implant. Whatever the case, you should tell us as soon as possible if your dental implant feels insecure.

Will People Be Able to Tell That I Have Dental Implants?

When crafting your dental implants, we’ll take meticulous digital impressions of your teeth and work hard to ensure that your dental implant looks as realistic as possible. Moreover, we make use of the highest quality materials in our dental implants. As a result, it should be close to impossible for someone to notice that your tooth isn’t real unless you tell them.

Do Dental Implants Decay?

The ceramic and metal that your titanium is made out of are resistant to the bacteria that cause enamel erosion, meaning that you don’t have to worry about your dental implants developing any kind of tooth decay.

However, your natural teeth are still just as susceptible to cavities as they’ve always been, and you can still wind up with gum disease. Just because your dental implants are resistant to decay doesn’t mean that you can ignore your dental hygiene.

What to Do Directly After Dental Implant Surgery

Dental implant surgery is certainly one of the most taxing parts of the entire process. However, you can expect to make a speedy, smooth sailing, and comfortable recovery with proper care and maintenance. By following Dr. Parmar’s aftercare instructions diligently, you’ll be one step closer to having a fully restored smile!

While you recover, it’s crucial that you leave the blood clot on your surgery site untouched. To do this, be sure to avoid:

• Spitting (use tissues or swallow your saliva)
• Drinking from a straw
• Smoking or using tobacco products
• Touching the surgical site with your tongue or fingers

Common Side-Effects

Have you ever had oral surgery before? If not, you’re probably unsure which symptoms are considered normal and which aren’t. Fortunately, knowing what to expect can help you better understand when you should be seeking help.

That said, here’s what you will experience in the first few days following your procedure:

• Intermittent Bleeding – You can control your bleeding by placing clean gauze over the area and applying light pressure. It can continue for several days after your surgery.
• Swelling – This can occur for 72 hours following your procedure, sometimes even over a week. You can reduce swelling by using a cold compress on the outside of your cheek over the area where you feel pain.
• General Discomfort – Although you will experience discomfort as you heal, it should gradually fade with time. You can relieve it by taking prescribed or over-the-counter pain medication.

Diet

It’s best to stick to a soft-food diet for the first few days following your procedure. With that in mind, here are some foods you should stock up on before your surgery:

• Mashed potatoes
• Yogurt
• Ice cream
• Pudding
• Soup (don’t make it too hot!)
• Scrambled eggs
• Pasta

You can return to a normal diet as soon as you feel up for it. However, you’ll still want to exercise caution around crunchy or tough foods and avoid chewing directly on the implant site.

Health & Oral Hygiene

It’s incredibly important that you take proper care of your teeth and gums after dental implant surgery to avoid complications. When you brush your teeth, do it as you normally would but be careful around the surgical site. You’ll also want to rinse with warm salt water two to three times a day and after each meal. Avoid using any mouthwash that contains a high level of alcohol as it can irritate your oral tissues or dry out your mouth.

What to Do After Your New Teeth Are Attached

Once you’re healed and the implants have successfully fused with your jawbone, you’ll return to the office for the final step. Dr. Parmar will place your restoration (i.e., crown, bridge, or denture) and complete your smile. If you experience mild sensitivity or discomfort after this step, you can manage it with a prescription or over-the-counter pain medication. Should you experience bleeding or swelling, contact our team right away – those aren’t normal side effects after restoration attachment.

Make Oral Hygiene a Priority

Implant restorations cannot develop decay, but oral bacteria can still infect the gum tissue surrounding the implant, causing it to fail. For this reason, at-home oral hygiene needs to be at the top of your to-do list when it comes to maintaining your dental implants. Brush for at least twice a day with fluoridated toothpaste and floss once a day. Make sure you brush for at least two minutes. It’s also worth adding an oral rinse to your routine if you have not already.

Eat a Healthy Diet

Whether you have dental implants or not, the foods you eat will have a direct impact on your long-term oral health. For example, eating excessive starches and sugars makes it easier for oral bacteria to create plaque acids that cause dental disease. Make sure your meals consist of a balance of fruits and vegetables throughout the day and use extreme caution whenever eating hard or tough foods.

Break Bad Habits

Dental implants may be strong, but they are not indestructible. Just like regular teeth, they can crack or chip if exposed to extreme pressure or severe trauma. That means you should never use your teeth for tasks that would be better suited for a tool. For example, use scissors or a box cutter to open packages or a bottle opener to crack open your favorite beverage. Never use your dental implants (or natural teeth for that matter) if you want them to last.

Protect Your Dental Implants

If you are an active person who enjoys contact sports, you may already know how important it is to wear the right protective gear to prevent physical injury. The same applies to your teeth, especially if you enjoy football, basketball, boxing, karate, wrestling, or another sport where the risk for impact is high. Custom-made mouthguards (and nightguards if you clench and grind your teeth at night) not only offer better comfort, but optimal and long-term protection.

Schedule Regular Dental Checkups

Checkups should be completed once every six months so our office can confirm your implants are remaining healthy and no complications have developed. Routine checkups also give us a chance to examine the results of your at-home oral regimen. In the event something is not quite right, Dr. Parmar will be able to catch it sooner, rather than later, then recommend a treatment to prevent your issue from getting worse.