Dental implants are one of the outstanding ways a cosmetic dentist can enhance your smile even if you have missing teeth. Dr. Alegre offers dental implants to all of South Florida and he has many delighted patients who used to have missing teeth but now have a full, bright smile.

What are dental implants?
They are artificial tooth roots which hold pearly porcelain teeth to complete your smile. Missing teeth have traditionally been replaced by bridges or dentures. Both of these solutions can be very fine, but they both lack something that implants offer: a replacement for the missing tooth root.

When a tooth is missing, so is its root. That leaves two gaps: the visible one, and an invisible gap inside the jawbone. If this jawbone gap is left for too long, the bone tissue starts shrinking to fill it. This gradually changes the shape of your face, giving you an older look. By filling the gap, implants preserve your facial shape and maintain the health and density of your jawbone.

Three kinds of dental implants
These three types of implant are designed to accommodate varying types of jawbone, and your cosmetic dentist would choose the one that best fits for you.

• Root form implant – a round shape which is used when there is plenty of jawbone height, width, and density. It is positioned right in the bone where the tooth root used to be.
• Plate form implant – a flat, narrow shape which is used when the jawbone has adequate height and density, but less width. It is positioned inside the bone, but occupies a differently-shaped area than the missing tooth root did.
• Subperiosteal implant – a custom-made, flat shape which is used when the jawbone lacks height, width, and density and therefore cannot hold an implant. This type is positioned on top of the bone, but beneath the gum tissue.

In some cases where the jawbone has insufficient width, a bone-grafting procedure can be done to add width.

Dental Implants are made of titanium, which has good affinity with bone tissue. The body will not reject it, or respond in any allergic way, and the bone will grow in closely around it. The bone and implant will fuse to become one strong anchor for your new tooth.

Subperiosteal implants are done in two stages, with either one surgery (if a CT scan is used to obtain jawbone information) or with two surgeries (if jawbone information is obtained through a surgical exposure of the bone.)

Root form and plate form implants are done in three stages, once the decision has been made to do them.

1. The implant is positioned in the jawbone. This is fairly major surgery and will take several months for recovery. In those months, the jawbone will grow in around the implant and incorporate it.
2. An abutment is placed on the top of the implant. For this, a minor surgery is done to expose the implant’s top. Recovery is just a few weeks.
3. The new tooth is attached to the abutment.

Now you have a shiny porcelain tooth, complete with sturdy root, and no gaps, either visible or invisible. If your dental implants are done as part of a full mouth reconstruction, you may want to have a tooth whitening procedure done first. Then your new tooth can be matched in color to the whiteness of your other teeth.