If you are a candidate, dental implants are the most natural way to replace a missing tooth. Before dental implants became the “standard of care”, it was more common to place a bridge where the healthy teeth on either side of the missing one would have to be ground down to little pegs to fit the crown. Because the healthy teeth were in essence destroyed to replace the bad one, the risk of developing cavities or “root canal” type problems increased. It is also common to have the bone and gum shrink under the area where the tooth was replaced causing health as well as cosmetic concerns. Eventually the need to replace the bridge and maybe grind down even more healthy teeth to hold a new bridge became inescapable.
Dental implants are different! They can last a lifetime. There is forty years of proven research. We know now that dental implants preserve bone and prevent “facial collapse”. The bone around implants actually gets stronger over time so avoiding future bridge replacements will actually save you time and money.
Hope this helps!
Dr. G
How common? Extremely common! You are not alone. Millions of Americans are afraid of dental work. You can be either “mildly afraid”, “petrified”- or simply don’t have enough time on your busy schedule. Your last dental visit may have been 5, 12 or maybe even 20 years ago. That’s not important right now. What is important is that you can forget about any negative experience you’ve ever had. We use IV conscious sedation dentistry that basically relieves you from your anxieties in a proven and safe way. You’ll be surprised at the amount of work that can be done in one or two appointments regardless of “how long it’s been”. This can mean treating gum disease to avoid future tooth loss or even replacing removable dentures with permanent, natural feeling implant teeth.
It is common practice to have surgery such as removal of teeth, dental implants, gum surgery etc. with only local anesthesia via injection. I believe that every patient should have the option of intravenous conscious sedation. Most patients think that to expirience the unpleasantness of anesthesia needles, sounds, or general sensations associated with the drilling of bone and sectioning of teeth especially during procedures involving multi-rooted tooth procedures comes with the territory. I’ve been practicing Periodontics and Implant dentistry as a specialist since 1994. On many occasions, Ive had the opportunity to treat the same patient with and without sedation on different occasions. The feedback is overwhelming in that many of these patients will never have another surgical procedure without sedation once they experienced the difference. I’ve included x-ray before and after images of a sedated patient who underwent a molar extraction, bone graft and dental implant placement all in the same day. Although the procedure required quite a bit of bone work including removal of the fratured tooth in pieces, her expirience was pretty much a non-event.
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Let me be the first to welcome you! I have been successfully seeing Cayman patients for specialty dental care for many years now and have met and become friendly with some of your dentists on the Island. Although you don’t need a referral from your dentist to see me, I would like to make sure that we keep them involved in your case as more complex dental problems usually require a team approach. Because we have a CT scan in the office and routinely complete even the more complex treatments in as little as one day with Intravenous Conscious Sedation, we make traveling to Miami a very efficient trip. We are located within 15 minutes from Miami International Airport. Many patients take advantage of the shopping while here or make time for a consult on their way to or from Europe. Please call usto discuss specific scheduling arrangements we have for out of town guests. Look forward to meeting you.
2020 SW 27th Avenue
. Piezo dental surgery solves this issue by using ultrasound waves to remove a tooth without damaging surrounding tissue. Because most removals of teeth should be done with the consideration that a dental implant replacement will be considered at the time of removal or at some later date, minimally invasive techniques such as piezo surgery should be considered.