Dental Implants

Dental implants are a great tooth replacement option. They are used to replace a missing tooth and restore your appearance and confidence, while giving you the ability to speak and eat naturally. They can also support a denture and dental bridge and increase comfort while reducing the potential for bone loss. 

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Dental Implants in Santa Rosa

Dental Implants are Permanent.

Implants are a way to replace missing teeth lost due to decay, gum disease or accidents and are a permanent, solid alternative to treatments like dentures.

Feel & Function Like Natural Teeth.

A common consequence of missing teeth is impaired chewing and biting. Dental implants offer strength and stability to replacement teeth and with proper care, can last for many years, allowing you to eat all the foods you love.

Implants can Improve Your Appearance.

Dental implants let us give our patients beautiful, new replacement teeth that match your natural tooth color and shape exactly. It’ll look like you were never missing a tooth when the implant process is done, and allow you to smile, laugh and stop hiding your missing teeth.

Why Dental Implants?

Dental implants are the latest and often most effective solution to missing teeth. Teeth can be lost in many ways, whether it’s tooth decay, gum disease, accident, trauma, failed root canal, or other dental issues. Implants can help replace tooth loss and restore both the beauty of your smile and the function of your teeth and bite. They have a great track record and are long-lived and effective when compared to older methods of replacing teeth, such as bridges and dentures.

What Are Dental Implants?

Implants are metal posts that anchor in and bond with your jawbone, similar to the roots of your natural teeth. They provide a strong, stable base for replacement teeth, which may be fixed or removable, depending on a patient’s needs. With an excellent success rate of over 95 percent, dental implants can be a permanent solution to your oral health issues. Implants consist of a metal anchor (implant post) that serves as a substitute for the missing root, and a replacement tooth that fits over the anchor, matching your natural tooth. There are a lot of positives with dental implants, including: improving your quality of life, your comfort, and your confidence. They can also improve your overall dental health, preventing the bone loss that can accompany missing teeth, and restoring facial structure.

What Should I Expect With Dental Implants?

The entire dental implant treatment process needs a few months for its completion.

Dental Implant Placement

The first part of the dental implant procedure is having a metal implant post placed in your jaw bone. Titanium implants mimic the function of a natural root to hold the tooth in place, so chewing and speaking are easier and more natural. This will support your eventual replacement tooth, but needs time (typically between 3-6 months) to heal and bond with the jaw bone.

At this point, you’ll still have a gap where your tooth is missing. A type of partial/removable denture can be placed for appearing, if needed.

Placing the Abutment

The second part of dental implant surgery is placing the abutment. The abutment is something that is put on top of the implant to connect to your crown after the implants heals.

Your dentist will use a dental torque wrench to tighten the abutment into place.

*Depending, you may also need additional surgery to place the abutment.

To place the abutment:

-your oral surgeon reopens your gums to expose the dental implant

-the abutment is attached to the dental implant

-the gum tissue is then closed around, but not over, the abutment.

*In some cases, the abutment is attached to the dental implant metal post when the post is implanted. That means you won’t need an extra surgical step. Because the abutments just past the gumline, however, it’s visible when you open your mouth – and it will be that way until your dentist completes the prosthetic tooth. Some people don’t like that appearance and prefer to have the abutment placed in a separate procedure.

After the abutment is placed, your gums must heal for about two weeks before the artificial tooth can be attached.

Placing the Tooth

The final step in the process is cementing the dental crown over the abutment. Afterward, you can walk out of our office confident in your new, beautiful smile, and the ability to talk and eat normally again. Your new tooth will look and feel natural and must be cared for with daily brushing and flossing, in which you can treat it the same way you treat your natural teeth.

Are Dental Implants Right For Me?

The choice to get dental implants is an individual one, and not all patients may be good candidates for implant surgery. One important consideration is your current dental health, and whether the area in which you are missing teeth has enough healthy jawbone to support implants.

Dr. McCormick can talk with you about your specific situation and assess what the best way to move forward might be. Every implant patient will have an individualized treatment plan developed by Dr. McCormick to restore your smile and provide care for all your dental needs. Reach out to our office to schedule a consultation or for more information.

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About Dr. Andrew McCormick:

Dr. Andrew T. McCormick is a native Californian originally from Monterey County. He graduated from U.S.C. school of dentistry and subsequently opened his practice in Santa Rosa, finding Sonoma County to be an ideal place to locate. 

Learning more about the connection between dentistry, medicine, and medications and environmental toxins is of particular interest to Dr. McCormick because he sees the effects of these on his patients.  Because of this, he has sought out non-traditional and progressive educations.  Some of these groups have recently been the American Academy of Oral Systemic Health (AAOSH) and the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT).

One of Dr. McCormick’s interests is involvement in the community.  He was an early participant in Leadership Santa Rosa and now he sits on the board for PDI, a dental clinic in Windsor for underprivileged children. In January 2010, he became an accredited member of AACD, one of 350 dentists worldwide, after extensive work to raise his level of expertise in cosmetic and rehabilitative dentistry. Click here to read more about Dr. McCormick.

Voted Best Dentist in Santa Rosa
by Readers of Bohemian
Magazine
1 of 350 Dentists Worldwide
Accredited with the American
Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry

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