Dental implants in Pearisburg

Why a gap is worth filling

A missing back tooth rarely shows, so it is easy to live with. What happens next is less obvious: the teeth on either side tip toward the gap, the opposing tooth drifts down, chewing moves to the other side, and the jaw bone where the root was begins to shrink because nothing is loading it anymore.

An implant is the only replacement that loads the bone the way a root did, which is why the bone stays.

How it goes

• Planning. We look at the bone and at where the nerve and sinus sit before anything is placed. If there is not enough bone, that is better known now than discovered later.
• Placement. The post goes in under local anesthetic. Most people say the day after feels like having a tooth pulled, and nothing worse.
• Healing. Several months while bone fuses to the post. You are not left with a gap to look at while that happens.
• The tooth. An abutment and a crown, matched to the teeth around it.

More than one tooth

Implants do not have to be one for one. Two can carry a bridge across a longer gap, and a small number can anchor a denture so it clips in and stops moving. For someone who has spent years managing a loose lower denture, that is usually the change that matters most.

When an implant is not the answer

Uncontrolled gum disease has to be treated first, because the same process that loosens teeth will loosen an implant. Heavy smoking lowers the success rate and we will say so. Some people are better served by a bridge or a partial denture, and we would rather tell you that than sell you the more expensive option.