After first assessing you, will carefully plan the implant surgery before creating an opening in the gum tissue so the implant post can be inserted directly into the jawbone.
- Once the implant is placed it is generally covered up with a healing cap and will be left to fully integrate with your jawbone.
- Osseo integration, integration process that will take place between the living bone and the surface of your implant. Your new implant will generally need between two to four months for Osseo integration to be completed.
- The second stage of treatment will involve attaching the abutment to the implant. The easiest way to think of an abutment is being like a tiny, stubby tooth that protrudes just above your gum line. If you have ever had a tooth prepared for a crown then an abutment can look very similar.
- During the final phase of dental implant treatment, your new tooth will be made and fitted in place.
Immediately Loading an Implant
Osseo integration
During your dental implants treatment, you are likely to hear the word Osseo integration. This word derives from ‘osteon,’ the Greek word for bone and the Latin word for ‘to make whole’ which is integrate.
Osseo integration refers to the process that will take place between the living bone and the surface of your dental implant.
Over a period of several months, new bone cells will begin to grow on the implant post and around it. This helps to hold the implant post securely in place so it becomes an integral part of the jawbone, ensuring it will be strong enough to support a new tooth.
Your new implant will generally need between two to four months for Osseo integration to be completed. Once Osseo integration has taken place, the implant can be ‘loaded’ with your new tooth. There are certain cases where your dental implant specialist in Precision Centre Oral Implantologist may be able to immediately load dental implant.
Loading a Dental Implant
This is simply the process where a new dental implant tooth, which may be a crown, bridge or denture, is secured to the dental implant, restoring your ability to bite and chew.
Osseo integration Takes Three to Six Months
Traditionally loading an implant means waiting three to six months for the implant to Osseo integrate with the surrounding bone, by which time it will be strong enough to withstand the substantial forces produced whenever you bite or chew food.
Temporary Prosthesis
In the meantime you will have a temporary prosthesis that does not place any force onto the dental implant. In many times occasions this is still the best option but there are certain cases where you may be able to immediately load dental implant.
Sometimes immediately loading dental implant may be a preferable option compared to waiting for Osseo integration to take place. For dental implant to be immediately loaded it must be surrounded with a certain amount of strong and healthy bone and it has to be inserted in such a way that it will be able to withstand chewing and biting forces.
With a single implant crown, it is possible to attach a temporary implant crown that will be specifically shaped to avoid contact with the opposing jaw during chewing. This will protect the dental implant until it has had time to heal and to Osseo integrate.
Full Arch Restorations
With full arch dental implants, in particular those meant to replace loose dentures, the implants are inserted at precise angles so that when they are loaded with a new arch of teeth, they will be locked in position and unable to move.
A total lack of movement is essential if they are to fully integrate with the surrounding bone and this process will still need to occur regardless of whether a dental implant is immediately loaded or left to heal.