Services Provided - Placement & Restoration of Implants

A smile can leave a lasting impression on those around you. Missing teeth can have a major impact on not only ones appearance, but ones ability to chew, and thus ones overall health. A "dental implant" is one of many options when it comes to replacing missing teeth. Dental implants come in various shapes and sizes and implant options can vary based upon the number of missing teeth and whether the patient prefers their replacement teeth to be fixed or removable. Dental implants generally consist of two major parts: a permanent anchor which is placed within the jawbone and an artificial tooth (or teeth) which is placed on the top of the permanent anchor. The anchor or implant is surgically placed within the jawbone and the bone actually grows and fuses to the implant thus permanently attaching to the jawbone. The restoration of a dental implant refers to designing, fabricating, and attaching the replacement teeth to the implant.

Since dental implants need to be placed within the jawbone a detailed assessment needs to be performed to determine the type, location and volume of ones jawbone. Many times an individual does not have enough bone for the direct placement of an implant and thus would require an additional surgical procedure designed to grow adequate bone for the placement of the implant. Many times the dentist can make this determination based upon basic 2-dimension radiographs, but in some cases additional information needs to be acquired and is done so through the use of CT-scanning technology. The office of Dr. Alan Nohr is one of the few offices in this area that has an in-office volumetric dental CT-scan. The volumetric CT-scan is able to identify the location of vital structures like nerves and sinus cavities, as well as provide a very accurate measure of the type and location of available bone.

The following video shows a CT Scan based evaluation of the jawbone for the placement of a dental implant. Click on the video to load it in a larger window.