La Jolla Dental Implants - Charles Briscoe, DDS - San Diego, CA Implant Dentist
Dental Implants at the La Jolla Implant Office of Dr. Charles Briscoe
Dental Implants are now a predictable way to replace a missing tooth or missing teeth. Dental implants at the La Jolla Implant Dentistry office of Dr. Charles Briscoe have moved from the exotic to the mainstream practice of dentistry.
Dental implants provide an excellent way to replace a missing tooth without compromising the adjacent teeth or to convert traditional removable partial or complete dentures into stable, implant supported partial or complete dentures.
Dental implants are man-made artificial roots (usually titanium) that are surgically placed in the upper or lower jaw bone and allowed to heal for three to six months. We then place the tooth portion (abutment) over the top of the dental implant(s) and create a crown, bridge, or implant supported partial or complete denture. The crowns and bridges are cemented in place (non-removable), while the partial or complete dentures are cemented in place (non-removable), bolted in place (removable by dental implant office) or are snapped over the dental implants (removable by patient for cleaning purposes).
Benefits of Implant Dentistry Dental Implants
1. Implants will not decay or abscess, and are less likely to fracture, and will resist perio-like disease better than teeth.
2. You can replace one or more teeth without affecting the adjacent teeth.
3. A single tooth implant has better than 97% success rate at 10 years. Whereas, a three unit bridge to replace a missing tooth has a mean life span of 50% survival at 10 years. Decay to one or more of the support teeth are the most common cause of failure, while 15% of these teeth will require root canals.
4. Dental implants stimulate the bone to maintain its volume and density. The presence of teeth also provides this stimulation. With teeth missing, a removable partial or complete denture does not stimulate and maintain bone, it accelerates bone loss!
5. Implant supported dentures have a level of function close to that of a full complement of teeth. Traditional dentures have about a 60% function of natural teeth.
6. Implant supported dentures. Like teeth, stimulate and maintain bone to keep its volume and dimension resulting in no facial esthetic change. Traditional dentures, by comparison, cause the bone to resorb (dissolve away) leading to irreversible facial esthetic changes.
7. Implant supported dentures have no soft tissue contact and thus improved oral comfort. Traditional dentures, by comparison, rest on the soft tissue, causing the tissue to thin and the salivary flow to decrease, leading to unstable or unretentive dentures.
Most dentists have not completed a structured, supervised program specific for implant restorations. Dr. Briscoe has completed such a program with the Misch International Implant Institute, and has received his Fellowship in Implant Dentistry with the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (something fewer that 5% of the dentists worldwide have accomplished). Implants are not teeth and should not be treated as such. Implant restorations (crowns, bridges, and dentures) are not the same as crowns and bridges on teeth and traditional dentures. The treatment plan, the fabrication of restorations, the occlusion, the maintenance, and the treatment of complications (screw loosening, crestal bone loss, prosthesis fracture, or implant failure) are unique to implant dentistry.
Call today for a no-charge implant dentistry, dental implant consultation with La Jolla dentist Charles Briscoe.