Missing teeth can cause insecurities, interfere with your professional life, and result in several medical problems, including gum disease and further tooth loss. Dental implants are the only permanent solution to missing teeth and provide several health benefits besides creating a beautiful smile.
Many Australians are concerned about the cost of dental implant treatment, and consider going abroad. However, the dental implants procedure steps are complicated and require several weeks of recovery time. Instead of going abroad, stay local with the team at No Gaps Dental.
What are Dental Implants?
Dental implants consist of three parts. The dental implant itself is a tiny titanium screw that sits directly in your jaw, acting similarly to a natural tooth root. The abutment is a small hook that connects the dental implant to the artificial tooth or crown, which completes your smile.
Because a dental implant sits in the jawbone, it can provide significant health benefits, beyond what less permanent options like dentures can offer. These benefits include reducing the possibility of further missing teeth, the ability to eat your favourite foods, and lowering your risk of gum disease.
Dental Implants Procedure Steps
Many patients are curious about the dental implant procedure, how long it takes, and what it entails.
The four major dental implants procedure steps are the initial consultation, dental implant surgery and healing time, abutment surgery, and the artificial crown’s design and placement.
Initial Consultation
At your initial consultation at No Gaps Dental, your dentist examines your mouth and teeth and takes 3D images and X-rays to determine whether you are a candidate for dental implant surgery.
Your dentist checks to see if you have infected gums and any existing health conditions that could cause complications and evaluates your jawbone’s density. They may prescribe antibiotics to clear any gum infections before proceeding with the surgery. You may also require a jawbone graft surgery to ensure your jaw can support the dental implant.
Dental Implant Surgery and Prep
At your dental implant surgery, you may receive I/V sedation or local anaesthesia at your dental implant surgery to make you as comfortable as possible. Once you are relaxed, your dentist makes a small incision in your gum and bone, inserting the dental implant. After closing up the incision, you go home, accompanied by a companion if we sedated you.
You may experience some swelling and minor bruising for around a week, but you can mitigate any discomfort with over-the-counter pain medications and ice packs. If you need to remove any cotton swabs after your surgery, use hand sanitiser first to prevent infection.
However, you need to wait for the dental implants to fuse with your jawbone, a process called osseointegration, before proceeding to the next step. This process can take up to six months.
Abutment Surgery
Once the dental implants have fused to the bone, you can schedule your abutment surgery, where your dentist attaches a small hook to the dental implant. The swelling and discomfort should reduce after several days.
Artificial Crown
The last of the dental implant procedure steps is the most visible. Once you have healed from your abutment surgery, your dentist can fit you for your artificial crown.
At No Gaps Dental, we take impressions of your mouth, sending them off to a lab who can make a customised crown suited to your smile and bite. Once completed, you return to our practice for one last appointment, where your dentist fits the crown, and you leave with a full, brilliant smile.
Dangers of Going Abroad
The benefits of dental implants are many, but some patients are concerned by their cost, and consider going abroad for their surgery. However, going abroad for a complicated dental procedure that involves multiple surgeries is risky.
Language Barrier
It’s essential that you understand everything that pertains to your surgery. While many surgeries abroad have materials in English, the dentist’s first language is likely not English. They may struggle to understand your questions, or you may not understand their answers.
Recovering in a Hotel Room
When you’re sick, comfortable surroundings can help speed your recovery. While sleeping in a new bed and seeing interesting sights is fantastic on holiday, it can cause stress while recovering after surgery.
Depending on how many dental implants you get, you may need to restrict your food after dental surgery, only eating soft foods and not drinking from a straw. You may struggle to follow these restrictions while eating out, and if your hotel doesn’t have a kitchen, it might be hard to find food you can eat.
Stress of Travel
Since there are four dental implant procedure steps, you may need to fly round-trip up to four times over about six months. If you sit near someone who is ill on a plane, you have an 80% chance of catching their cold. While the average cold is just irritating on holiday, it could delay your surgery, costing you more time and money.
All this travelling also requires you to take more time off from work. If you remain in Australia for your dental implants, you may only need to take time off for your dental appointments.
Lower Hygiene Standards
Abroad, you don’t have the same guarantee of hygiene that you have in Australia. Dentist offices may not use medical-grade hand sanitiser, follow proper disinfecting methods, or wear the appropriate PPE.
If your dentist abroad has lower hygiene standards, it increases your risk of infection, which could cause serious complications after your surgery.
Benefits of Staying In Australia for Your Dental Implant Procedure
In Australia, the Dental Board governs all dentists and their practices. To stay certified, an Australian dentist needs to follow all governmental regulations, including having an English language certificate, regularly attending continuing education courses, and keeping to a strict hygiene routine, including the use of hand sanitiser to keep infectious diseases at bay.
At No Gaps Dental, we santise all our equipment thoroughly, and all our employees use hand sanitiser before seeing each patient. We follow the Dental Board of Australia’s strict hygiene guidelines, ensuring that we disinfect, santise, and clean all our reusable equipment between each use.
Complete Your Smile at No Gaps Dental
Restore your smile with our high-quality dental implants. Call No Gaps Dental today on (02) 8806 0227 to learn more about our dental implant procedure and schedule an appointment to determine if you are a candidate.
Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks.