Are You A Candidate For Dental Implants?

Do you have one or more cracked, damaged or missing teeth? Is your oral and overall health otherwise good? If you answered yes, then dental implants may be a great tooth replacement option for you. However, it is important to note that all patients are different and only Dr. Mortensen can determine if you are a good candidate for dental implants. Before starting your treatment, Dr. Mortensen will give you a comprehensive exam where he will study your teeth, discuss your needs and options for dental implants.

What Makes A Good Implant Candidate?

The ideal candidate for dental implants has one or more missing teeth, good oral hygiene and overall satisfactory health. Here is a list of specific factors that doctors look for when considering whether patients will be successful candidates for dental implants:

• Dense jawbone and adequate gum tissues.* For the dental implant to be supported properly, the patient’s jawbone must be sufficiently dense and the gum tissue must be healthy. Dental implants work by doctor insertion of an artificial tooth root directly into tyour jawbone. Once this heals, another piece called an abutment is fastened to the root and finally the artificial tooth is attached. * If a patient fails to meet this prerequisite, they may need a supplemental procedure. See below for more details.
• Good overall health. Healing properly from oral surgery depends on the patient being healthy overall. Likewise, if a patient is suffering from other health issues, oral surgery will be much harder to recover from. A healthy patient will heal better and have better results.
• Excellent oral hygiene. Keeping your mouth clean and healthy after an oral surgery is absolutely essential to proper healing. Tooth replacement treatment will be not be successful if a patient does not practice good oral hygiene.

Supplemental Procedures

The success of your dental implant procedure depends on healthy gum tissue, good jawbone density and decent overall health. The absence of these healthy characteristics does not prevent a patient from getting dental implants, it simply means that a supplemental procedures may be required. One of these procedures is bone grafting and it helps restore the density of the jawbone. During this simple outpatient surgery, Dr. Mortensen takes bone from an alternative source, and uses it to add volume to the deficient area of the patient’s jawbone. Soft tissue augmentation is another procedure that adds volume to a patient’s gums. Dr. Mortensen examines each patient individually to determine which procedures are necessary for the best chances of dental implant success