Dental implants sound fairly straightforward but did you know that it actually includes a few different steps during the procedure as well as recovery? Our Surrey dentists share how dental implants work as well as what to expect from the procedure and recovery.
Here’s a little about what you can expect between the procedure and recovery for each stage of the dental implant process.
When bone grafting is required prior to the implant being placed, a waiting period of approximately four to six months will be necessary before the implant portion of your treatment process can get started. Your dentist will recommend bone grafting if you are missing the bone necessary to ensure a successful dental implant procedure.
In cases where extraction is required before of the implant procedure there may, or may not, be a healing period directly following the extraction. Thanks to new advances in dentistry, dentists can often place the implants at the same time as they do the extraction. Having the implant placed at the same appointment as the tooth is extracted means that there is no double healing time required. Depending on the patient's health, this stage will take around a week to heal.
Once the implant has been placed you will need to wait between four to six months while the bone becomes integrated with the implant metal. At that time the next part of the dental implant procedure can begin.
Finally, your dentist is able to add an abutment to your dental implant to which either an artificial tooth (a dental cap) or denture will be attached.