What is the Procedure for Getting Dental implants?

The placement of dental implants is typically carried out in multiple steps.
Initial Consultation and Treatment Planning – during your first appointment, your dentist will perform a clinical examination and look at the x-ray images and study models of your teeth. This is done to assess your eligibility for implants and create a customized treatment plan. At this stage, they will also determine the number of implants required and the type of prosthesis needed for tooth replacement.

Implant Surgical Procedure – During the next appointment, your dentist will insert the implants. First, they will administer local anesthesia to make you pain-free and relaxed. They will make an incision over the soft tissues at pre-determined sites to expose the underlying jawbone. Next, they will carefully screw in the implants to their respective positions by applying controlled forces. Once the implants have been placed, your dentist will place a healing cover over them to ensure uninterrupted healing of the surgical site. To ensure that you don’t have to go without your teeth, your dentist will attach a temporary prosthesis over the implants. However, these temporary prostheses are only for esthetic purposes and cannot be used for eating.

Implant Loading – After about 4-6 months, your dentist will perform a clinical and radiographic examination of the implant site to assess the healing. If sufficient healing has taken place and the implants have become firmly embedded in the bone, they will replace the temporary prosthesis with a permanent one. This is known as implant loading. For a single missing tooth, your dentist will place a crown over the implant, while for multiple adjacent missing teeth, an implant-supported overdenture may be used. If someone has lost all their teeth, a complete fixed bridge supported by up to 4 implants – known as an all-on-4-implant prosthesis – may be used.
Typically, implant loading is done 4-6 months after insertion to ensure that they become firmly embedded in the jawbone. However, dentists may choose to load implants immediately after their insertion in some cases. This is known as immediate implant loading or same-day dental implants GA.