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Surgery

Dental implants provide a revolutionary way in replacing missing teeth.  There are two steps in using dental implants to replace missing teeth.  The first step is surgically placing a root shaped titanium or titanium alloy screw into the jaw bone.  The second step is putting a crown or some kind of dental prosthesis on top of the implant.

The surgical part of the dental implant therapy takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour for a simple one tooth replacement and it may take much longer if many implants are used to replace  many teeth.  Once the surgical area is numbed with local anesthetics that is used for most other dental procedures, an incision is made in to the gum over the bone.  Then the overlying gum is carefully retracted and the underlying bone is exposed.  Then using sterile saline solution as the coolant, an osteotomy (hole drilled into the bone) is made using sequentially larger diameter drills.  The diameter and depth of the osteotomy is predetermined using radiographs (x-ray films) before the surgery so that important nerves and other vital structures are not violated.  The final drilling size is slightly smaller than the implant to allow tight fitting and achieve good stability of the implant in the bone.  Then gum is sutured back together.  The implant can be either buried under the gum or left exposed to the oral cavity with the use of a healing abutment.   Some dental implants are designed to be left exposed without the use of a healing abutment.  The patient is usually prescribed antibiotics and pain medication.  Sometimes, special mouth rinse can be prescribed to help control plaque accumulation in the surgery area.

The sutures are usually removed a week later (5 -10 days later).  Most of the time, the pain associated dental implant surgery is minimal.  Swelling of the surgery area is usually minimal, except when the surgery involves bone graft or other complicated procedures.

Some of the post operative instructions given include the following:

  • do not chew on the surgery area
  • do not use straws
  • do not drink or eat very hot beverages or food
  • eat soft food
  • use ice pack as directed
  • use prescribed medications as directed
  • do not be overly active and etc.

More detailed information on surgical procedures is given in the following web pages.