Instructions on how to insert a tooth

Damaged teeth are not put back into the mouth, but offer various options for restoring a smile – from putting a crown on a damaged tooth to installing an implant with subsequent prosthetics. This is what we will talk about today.

What does «insert a tooth» mean?

When an average person without a dental background says «insert a tooth,» they most likely mean dental implantation with prosthetics. This is a long process that takes from six months to a year, but the result is a complete restoration of the tooth in terms of aesthetics and functionality.

At the Sirius-Dent dental implant clinic, we perform one-stage implantation whenever possible, combining several operations into one and saving the patient time. For example, we can place a dental implant immediately after bone grafting, so that new bone tissue has already grown around the implant. The need for other operations affects the cost of implanting one tooth «on a turnkey basis,» so it is calculated after consulting a dentist. Thus, the patient knows how much dental implantation costs before the treatment begins and this price does not change until it is completed.

How to understand how I need to restore a tooth or several teeth

To understand how best to restore teeth, you should start with a consultation with a dental surgeon and a CT scan. If we are talking about teeth that are mostly destroyed, but have roots, they can be restored with crowns. Missing teeth are restored with both implants with crowns and bridge-like prostheses (for the last teeth in a row, there is a fixed structure called the “Brooklyn Bridge”). If these options do not suit the patient at the moment, it is important to at least temporarily purchase a removable prosthesis (for example, a clasp) in order to prevent irreversible changes in the bite and wait for implantation.

How to choose a clinic and a doctor

You want to entrust such a responsible mission as restoring a smile to professionals. Therefore, before setting a date for implantation, you should visit the clinic in person, talk to the doctor and get acquainted with negative and positive reviews about dental implantation. It is important to find out in advance whether the clinic has its own operating room with the necessary equipment, a full-time anesthesiologist and the possibility of hospitalization.

When communicating with a doctor, you should pay attention to how fully and clearly he describes the patient’s problem, what ways to solve it he offers and whether he takes into account the individual characteristics of the person. “Your” doctor should not only be confident, but also inspire trust.

What to tell your doctor about yourself and your health

At the Sirius clinic, the patient is offered to fill out a questionnaire that will help to understand whether a person has allergies and health problems that need to be taken into account before implantation. Before the operation, it is also necessary to consult an anesthesiologist – this is not a simple formality, because it is he who cares about the patient’s safety and provides medical control. If a person with concomitant diseases (for example, cardiovascular pathologies, diabetes mellitus) comes for implantation, the anesthesiologist and surgeon will most likely need the conclusions of a specialized specialist. Sometimes such patients are prescribed preoperative drug treatment to improve certain indicators.

How will the doctor restore my teeth?

The process of restoring teeth begins with an initial consultation with a dental surgeon, orthodontist, computed tomography and development of a further treatment plan. Before installing dental implants, removable and fixed dentures, the oral cavity must be sanitized, so the dentist treats caries and its complications and removes teeth that can no longer be saved. If a person wants to install fixed dentures, the teeth on which crowns will be placed and the bridge prosthesis will be fixed (as a rule, they have already been depulped earlier) are filed in the shape of a truncated cone. Then, based on previously taken impressions, the dental laboratory makes the prosthesis, and in two to three days it is put on the patient. An additional fitting is usually not required.

If a person prefers dental implantation with subsequent prosthetics, after preliminary preparation, the stages of tooth implantation include the actual installation of the implant into the jaw bone (this operation can be combined with tooth extraction, bone grafting or mucogingival surgery in case of lack of mucosa) and fixing the gum former on it. After a few months, prosthetics are performed with a crown chosen by the patient (zirconia, metal-ceramic, etc.). If it is a front tooth, immediately after implantation, if possible, a temporary crown is installed on the abutment that is removed from the bite.

How long will it take for all procedures and operations

It is impossible to say exactly how long a particular patient will need for all procedures and operations before the dental implant consultation. After all, we are talking about the individual characteristics of the human body, and the time for the sanitation of the oral cavity is different for everyone.

But if we assume that there are no inflammatory processes in the oral cavity, then between implantation and prosthetics on the upper jaw, half a year passes, and on the lower – three months. People who underwent bone grafting with one-stage implantation, it takes more time for the implant to take root and bone tissue to form – nine months. In general, prosthetics on an implant can take up to a year.

At the Sirius clinic, we perform as many interventions as possible in one operation. The fewer the number of operations, the more comfortable the patient.

Do I need to prepare in any way?

In order to draw up a treatment plan, a computed tomography of the jaws must be performed so that the doctor can assess the amount and condition of the bone tissue and determine whether bone-plastic surgery is necessary. It is advisable to also have a professional teeth cleaning before implantation, not to smoke or drink alcohol. However, smoking is not a contraindication for implantation, which is easy to verify by reviewing the reviews of smokers about dental implantation.

How to choose implants and how they differ

At the Sirius clinic, the patient can choose from several types of implants: INNO (South Korea), B&B Dental (Italy), STRAUMANN and NOBEL (both made in Switzerland). In this matter, it is worth considering not the price of the model, but its prevalence. After all, implants are engineering structures that require regular inspection and professional hygiene. STRAUMANN and NOBEL representatives work all over the world, and no matter where a person is, they will definitely be able to find a specialist who knows these models and will help with their maintenance or crown installation anywhere. Fewer dentists deal with B&B Dental implants even in the EU, and it is quite difficult to find someone who works with Korean implants outside the former Soviet countries. So in fact, the cost of an implant does not indicate its quality (which is high in any case), but the patient’s freedom of movement. Our clinic gives a 10-year guarantee for B&B Dental, NOBEL and STRAUMANN implants.

How to stop being afraid of the dentist and surgery

To overcome fear, it is worth visiting the clinic and making sure that thanks to modern pain relief, there will be no pain at any stage of treatment. But if a person is still scared, there is always the option of performing implantation under sedation. This issue has been resolved at Sirius Clinic for a long time, and we successfully use all methods of anesthesia — from application to anesthesia with intubation. For such cases, we have trained adult and pediatric anesthesiologists on staff.

What do I need to know from the doctor and what should I ask him?

You can ask the doctor any question about implantation, preparation for it and prosthetics that interests you, even if it seems amateurish. This is much more useful than searching for an answer on the Internet yourself, not understanding the difference between the truth, exaggeration and lies. An experienced doctor will be able to provide comprehensive and accessible information, including explaining how realistic the article on the Internet to which the patient refers is.

What happens next after the operation?

During the first few days after implantation, swelling will occur, but this does not indicate that the operation was unsuccessful. Swelling is a normal reaction of the body to injury, and it will go away on its own in a week. During this period, minor pain after implantation is possible, which is well relieved with painkillers. Often, for preventive purposes, the doctor prescribes an antibiotic to avoid inflammation of the bone.

Seven days after the operation, the dental surgeon conducts a control examination and removes the suture. If for some reason the patient is unable to stay in Odessa for a whole week, he receives a suture that does not need to be removed, and returns to the doctor for prosthetics with a crown of the type he chooses.