Dental Implants – Fair Oaks, CA

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

First, Dr. Rivera will conduct an exam of your mouth and take digital X-rays to ascertain whether you’re a good candidate for dental implants. If you have oral infections, she’ll need to address them with restorative treatments at her office before you can receive implants. If your jawbones are too thin to support the restorations, she may have to refer you to a trusted specialist for bone grafts. When you’re ready, she’ll be happy to schedule you for implant surgery.

Dental Implant Surgery

Dr. Rivera is trained and equipped to perform the entire implant placement procedure at her Fair Oaks office. After numbing your mouth with an appropriate anesthetic, she will position the implant posts at precise locations in your jaw to give them maximum leverage. After your implants are placed, she will close the gum tissue and place protective caps upon them.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment

Most dental implants are made from titanium, a remarkably strong metal that has the remarkable ability to fuse with living bone tissue. This process, called osseointegration, will take several months to complete, and it gives your implants the sturdy hold they need to exert maximum chewing power and last for decades with proper care. After your implants have fused with your jawbone, you’ll come back to our office for a minor surgical procedure so we can fix abutment pieces upon them. These will allow your implants to support your final restorations.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restoration(s)

It will usually take several weeks to craft your final restoration. When your device is complete, you’ll come back to our office to have it anchored in place. Dr. Rivera will carefully secure your crown, bridge, or denture to your implant(s) before checking your bite and making any final adjustments. You’ll then be ready to greet the world with your beautiful and complete new smile.

Day-to-Day Benefits

After your dental implants fuse with your jawbone and you receive your final restoration, you’ll notice an immediate improvement in your day-to-day life.

Dental implants in Fair Oaks are almost as strong as natural teeth, retaining up to 80% of your original bite power. They’re also incredibly durable and don’t break easily. You’ll have no problem eating all of your favorite foods, including the toughest meats and crunchiest vegetables.

Since dental implants are firmly rooted to your jawbone, they won’t slip and slide around your mouth. Instead, they’ll stay perfectly still, enabling you to talk without lisping and to enunciate clearly. No more worrying about your replacement teeth falling out!

Last but certainly not least, your dental implant restoration will look incredibly realistic. With precise shade-matching and accurate impressions, our team will customize it to blend in seamlessly with your smile.

Health Benefits

When you lose teeth, your jawbone loses the stimulation it needs in order to maintain itself. This is because your pearly whites and dental roots are responsible for transferring chewing pressure to the surrounding bone. Replacing the gaps with a traditional bridge or denture will slow the rate of jawbone deterioration, but since they ultimately can’t reach the bone, they won’t completely prevent it from happening.

Dental implants, however, do reach your jawbone! The titanium post is capable of providing that essential stimulation, and will keep your mandible happy and healthy.

Long-Term Benefits

There’s no doubt about it – dental implants are a long-term solution. With proper care, they’re capable of lasting for 30 years or more, and many patients go a lifetime without needing to repair or replace them. That kind of reliability is truly priceless!

In fact, you might find that your dental implants save you money over time. Fewer repairs and replacements means fewer dental bills, after all, and you likely won’t be needing treatments for your jawbone. Basically, dental implants can be a permanent investment.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

As long as you have generally good oral health, you’re willing to break any existing bad habits, like smoking, and you have a sturdy jawbone (or are willing to complete preparatory procedures to meet these criteria), you most likely qualify for dental implants. If that sounds like you, then take the next step: schedule an appointment with our dental implant dentist in Fair Oaks, Dr. Ramona Rivera. Once she has an in-depth understanding of your dental history, needs, and goals, she can determine if you’re a good candidate and help you decide if this is the best tooth-replacement solution for you.

Missing One Tooth

If you are missing one tooth – whether it’s a front tooth or a back molar – we can replace it with a single dental implant. The first step is surgically inserting the implant into your jawbone. After the two have fused together, we can secure a custom dental crown on top. Since this tooth-replacement solution allows us to fill the gap in your smile without modifying the surrounding teeth, it’s a healthier alternative to a traditional dental bridge.

Missing Multiple Teeth

If you are missing multiple teeth, we can always replace each one with a single dental implant. However, that usually isn’t the most efficient (or cost-effective) way to rebuild your smile. For example, if you are missing several teeth in a row, then it’s better for us to position a dental implant on each side of the gap and anchor a bridge on top. Compared to a traditional dental bridge, an implant bridge is much stronger and doesn’t compromise the health of your remaining teeth.

Missing All Teeth

If you don’t have any of your natural teeth left, we have good news: traditional dentures aren’t the only way to rebuild your smile. By placing just four to eight implants along the jaw, we can give you a denture that offers a level of strength and security that regular restorations simply cannot match. Not only that, but implant dentures can last for well over a decade with proper care. Plus, you’ll never need to worry about your prosthetic moving, falling out, or limiting your diet!