Regain Your Livelihood
Dr. Spadafora knows that your smile significantly impacts your life. While smiling with a complete, healthy mouth may make you live longer, damaged or missing teeth can have the opposite effect.
A dental implant will fill the gap in your smile that’s been the center of your worries. It’s also the only restoration that fights the adverse effects of tooth loss, including jawbone deterioration and facial sagging.
When you visit our Hermitage practice, we can use dental implants to replace a single tooth, multiple teeth, or an entire arch of teeth. This attractive smile restoration option functions like your natural teeth, meaning you can still eat all of your favorite foods, and your speech will not be affected.
What Is a Dental Implant?
A dental implant is a prosthetic that we use to replace your missing or damaged tooth. In Hermitage, we use three-piece dental implants.
The Parts of an Implant
- The fixture — this portion of the implant replaces the tooth root and is installed directly into the jawbone. The fixture is made from a biocompatible titanium alloy, so your body will agree with it.
- The abutment — The piece that connects the fixture to the dental crown is the abutment.
- The crown — The final portion of the restoration is the crown, and it’s the only part of the implant that anybody will see. Our crowns are made from high-grade porcelain, which is a durable material that looks just like your natural teeth. Dr. Spadafora will use a guide to determine the exact shade of your smile to ensure that it perfectly blends.
Choose a Qualified Implant Dentist
Dental implant treatment requires a trained professional. The procedure calls for minimally invasive surgery and the precise placement of a titanium fixture into your jawbone.
While the minimum requirement for dentists to place implants is a weekend-long course, we encourage you to find a dentist with specialized training and expertise that goes beyond expectations.
Dr. Dale Spadafora is an expert implant dentist with years of practice in oral implantology. For example, he’s affiliated with numerous elite implant organizations, including:
- Misch International Implant Institute
- International Congress of Oral Implantologists — Fellow
- Implant Educators
We Offer Mini Dental Implants
Sometimes patients don’t have the ample amount of bone mass in their jaw to support a traditional implant. Other times a patient’s teeth might be too close together, and it’s challenging to maneuver a full-size implant to the intended spot.
In either of these scenarios, Dr. Spadafora is proud to feature mini dental implants as a solution. This remarkable treatment looks just as good as traditional implants, and it’s cheaper.
The Implant Process
Treating your smile with dental implants can take anywhere from three to nine months to complete. While there’s only one surgery, your mouth will need time to heal. Below is an outline of what you can expect.
Your Consultation
The first thing to do if you’re considering dental implants is to schedule a consultation with Dr. Spadafora to discuss what you hope to gain from treatment. He’ll take this time to examine your oral structure, review your medical and dental history, and explain your treatment options.
If you decide that dental implants are right for you, we can schedule your placement appointment.
Placing Your Dental Implant
When you arrive for your placement procedure, Dr. Spadafora will surgically place the implant fixture into your jawbone. We’ll have our local dental laboratory design and manufacture your customized dental crown, but you’ll leave our office with a fully functional temporary crown to hold you over until then.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll wait for the surgical site to heal, and during the downtime, the implant will fuse with the bone through a natural process called osseointegration.
Your Permanent Restoration
When your mouth is fully adjusted to the implant, you’ll visit our Hermitage office so Dr. Spadafora can attach the customized crown. This part only takes about 30 minutes, and after that, you’ll be ready to show off your attractive new smile to the world.