Dental implants are now more widely known and used than they used to be. They are starting to catch up with dentures as the \u2018go to\u2019 dental treatment when a tooth, or teeth, has been lost. What is perhaps less well understood is that, although the dentist\u2019s skills are extremely important, a significant part of the treatment occurs over time as part of a natural process. This is called osseointegration and is where the implant and the bone that it has been placed into, start to fuse together.<\/p>\n
For today\u2019s blog then, we thought that we would try to break down this process a little more so that our Chelmsford dental implant patients can, perhaps, understand this popular treatment even better.<\/p>\n
Placing a dental implant isn\u2019t just a case of putting an artificial tooth root into the bone and then everything is OK. Aside from the precision and skills in doing this in a sophisticated way, it is essential that everything is ready in the first place. This means that any gum disease will need to be treated beforehand and the bone density must be sufficient to hold your tooth implant<\/a> securely in place and allow the osseointegration process to take place successfully.<\/p>\n Let us take a look now, in stages, at what happens during the osseointegration process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once the implant has been placed into healthy bone tissue. The process is about to begin. It takes around 3 months to complete but initially, the body will start to assess what has just happened. It will initially sense an implant as a foreign object. Because of this, implant patients are likely to find that they initially produce more saliva than usual as the body tries to reject the implant. This is one more reason why initial care is extremely important and you should follow your dentist\u2019s advice closely. The body will soon accept the implant and start the healing process, and this is why it is important that a biocompatible material is used in implants and why inferior products are much more likely to fail. A little patience and following the dentist\u2019s advice should soon see the osseointegration process start to begin.<\/p>\n Initially, a blood clot will form around the implant and cells will start to arrive to start the process of fusing the implant and bone together.<\/p>\n This is where, after a few weeks, there is a definite bond between the implant and bone, though far from complete at this stage. The good news is that this is a time when you can usually start to ease off certain restrictions and, for example, start to eat slightly harder foods. Do not attempt to rush things though and if you are not sure, always err on the side of caution. Naturally, you should also still be following the advice given to you at Blue Sky Dental<\/a> when you had the implants placed.<\/p>\n Think of this stage as similar to when a tree has been planted. For some time, it just sits there getting water, but at some point, the roots begin to grow deeper and growth starts. As with a tree, your implant treatment is a long way from being completed, but the process is now well and truly under way.<\/p>\n When we say final, this doesn\u2019t mean that nothing changes. What it does mean here though is that your implant is finally ready for normal usage although again, do not presume this until advised by our Chelmsford implant dentist.<\/p>\n Although we generally say this process should be complete in three months, this can be slowed if, for example, the patient doesn\u2019t abide by the instructions given to them so please don\u2019t assume that just because the time has passed, the implant is ready to be used normally. While this is likely to be the case, if it is not and you use it to bite something hard, you may even cause damage. Make sure to listen to professional advice (and definitely not something off social media!)<\/p>\n Naturally, after this stage is achieved, your new dental implant will still need to be looked after well to keep it strong and healthy. We have discussed this in more detail before, but essentially, if you brush your teeth and implant well, floss between them and see the hygienist, you won\u2019t be going far wrong.<\/p>\n We hope that you found today\u2019s blog useful and are happy to answer any questions you might have about it. If you would like to discover more about teeth implants and if they are suitable for you, why not call Blue Sky Dental today on 01245 211070<\/strong> and talk to us about it? Our experienced team will be delighted to help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dental implants rely on this natural process to be successful, but what is it and how does it happen? Dental implants are now more widely known and used than they used to be. They are starting to catch up with …<\/p>\nThe Initial Stage<\/h3>\n
Intermediate stage<\/h3>\n
Final stage<\/h3>\n