Dental Implants in Wayne, NJ

Are gaps in your smile preventing you from eating, speaking, or smiling with confidence? If so, you’re not alone. Tooth loss is on the rise among Americans, with 120 million missing at least one tooth. Unfortunately, losing even one tooth can profoundly affect our lives, forcing us to adjust our daily habits and lowering our self-confidence. But you don’t have to resign yourself to a life of struggle. We can replace your missing teeth and restore the beauty of your smile with dental implants.

At Fine Dental Care, a Mini Dental Implant Center of America, we are committed to improving our patients’ quality of life with reliable restorative procedures.

What Are Dental Implants?

Whether you have experienced tooth loss due to decay, gum disease, injury, cancer, or aging, Dr. Bruce Fine can help. Dental implants are a well-founded method for replacing missing teeth. The implant is a metal screw that we place securely in your jawbone. The screw supports an artificial crown, bridge, or denture to replace your missing teeth and restore your bite.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?

Anyone with healthy gums, sufficient jawbone density, and good oral health can benefit from dental implants to replace their missing teeth.

You might consider dental implants if you want to:

Dental implants may not be the right treatment option for you if you have severe decay or gum disease. These concerns should be addressed before implants are placed. Implants are not recommended for smokers since smoking can increase complications and lead to implant failure. Abstaining from smoking or quitting completely will improve your oral health and make you a stronger candidate for dental implants.

If you have vascular or bone disease, take certain medications, or receive chemotherapy or radiation treatments, you may not be eligible for implants. Diabetes can also be a complicating factor. Patients with diabetes experience better treatment outcomes with dental implants when their diabetes is under control. At your consultation, we will discuss your full medical history to determine if dental implants are the best tooth replacement option for you.

Traditional Dental Implants vs. Mini Dental Implants

The purpose of traditional implants and mini implants is the same: to replace missing teeth. While conventional implants have their place in dentistry, the mini alternative offers significant advantages that make them our preferred treatment option.

Size and Design

Both traditional implants and mini implants use screws, typically made of titanium, to support a dental restoration. However, they vary greatly in size and design. The traditional implant has a three-piece construction: the metal screw or post connects to the artificial tooth using a separate connecting component called an abutment. The design of the mini implant is more streamlined, with a built-in connection point that looks like a small ball. This ball end connects to the prosthetic tooth using a rubber O-ring.

As their name suggests, mini implants are significantly smaller than their conventional counterpart. The diameter of a traditional implant is about 3 to 5 millimeters, whereas a mini implant reduces the width to less than 3 millimeters, approximately the size of a toothpick.

While the prosthesis is the only visible component once dental implants are placed, the smaller size of mini implants makes the procedure to place them much easier.

Cost

Mini Dental Implants are much less expensive and much more affordable than Traditional Dental Implants. In most cases, the cost can be 50% or less for Mini Dental Implant procedures versus Traditional Dental Implant procedures.

Procedure

Placing a traditional dental implant requires at least two visits and sometimes a separate bone grafting procedure. Because of the wider diameter of the screw, patients need to have sufficient space in the jawbone for successful implantation. Bone grafting adds volume and density to the jawbone with transplanted bone tissue, but it requires surgery to do so. Before a conventional implant can be placed, the jaw needs to heal completely, which takes at least three months. Once the jawbone is healed, we can place the implant by drilling a pinhole incision in the jaw. The placement procedure takes about one to two hours. However, owing to the size of the screw, the implant needs to fully integrate with the jaw before the abutment and prosthetic can be mounted, prolonging the journey toward a beautiful smile by several months.

The long, multi-stage process is impractical for people looking to quickly restore their bite. Mini dental implants serve the same purpose as traditional implants, but they cut down the placement process significantly. The small, single-piece design of mini implants, along with a special technique, makes them easier to place. In many cases, we can place mini implants and mount the prosthetic in a single visit because they do not require the same bone integration process as traditional implants. As research shows, mini implants offer immediate stability. The procedure to place mini implants is less complicated and minimally invasive, making them an excellent option for many patients.

Recovery

With traditional implants, recovery takes place after each stage of the process. Because of the more invasive surgery and larger hardware, healing can take two weeks or more once the abutment and prosthesis are finally mounted.

A significant benefit of mini implants is the quick healing time. While recovery time depends on each individual person and the number of implants placed, most patients feel comfortable resuming their normal activities in as little as 24-48 hours after implantation.

Why Should You Replace Missing Teeth?

Replacing missing teeth enhances the aesthetics of your smile and restores your ability to eat and speak normally. While these are important reasons to fill the gap in your smile, tooth replacement has additional benefits:

  • Halt shifting teeth: When you lose a tooth, the surrounding teeth naturally shift toward the gap, which misaligns your bite. As a result, you may experience difficulty chewing and speaking normally. The drifting also creates new openings that are vulnerable to bacteria buildup because they are harder to clean. Implants prevent these problems from occurring by halting shifting teeth.
  • Eat a healthier diet: Tooth loss makes it more challenging to eat a healthy diet. Because your chewing force is compromised, you may opt for foods that are easier to eat but unhealthy. Eating foods that are high in sugar or starch further harms your oral health. Replacing lost teeth with dental implants restores your bite force, allowing you to make healthier food choices.
  • Prevent bone loss: The roots of your teeth stimulate your jawbone to maintain its health. When you lose a tooth, your jawbone begins to recede because it is no longer stimulated. Dental implants are prosthetic tooth roots that stimulate your jawbone the same way the natural root does.
  • Preserve facial structure: If you experience bone loss because of jawbone atrophy, you risk altering your facial appearance. Facial collapse leads to a caved-in look, making you appear older than you are. Because dental implants maintain the health of your jawbone, they prevent changes to your appearance.

Restore Your Bite with Dental Implants

Dental implants are a tried-and-true solution to tooth loss that restores your bite and revamps your smile. We can use dental implants to support crowns, bridges, and dentures, allowing us to replace one tooth, many teeth, or all of your teeth. At Fine Dental Care, Dr. Fine specializes in placing revolutionary mini dental implants to replace missing teeth quickly and effectively. If you are suffering from tooth loss and want to improve the function of your bite while enhancing your smile, mini implants are a great option.

To learn more about dental implants, contact us now to book your free consultation.