When you have a tooth that needs to be treated, this could leave a gap behind. Fortunately, we take steps following your tooth’s removal to prepare your smile for the placement of dental implants. In today’s blog, your Santa Rosa, CA, oral surgeons talk about how we complete extractions and place dental implants.
The Reasons for a Tooth Extraction
A tooth could be extracted due to a serious infection or case of decay, one that can no longer be treated with a restoration or root canal. Lack of treatment could mean infection reaching other parts of the smile! We could also take out severely damaged teeth or ones loosened by gum disease. If you’ve lost the majority of your teeth, then an extraction could be necessary to make room for a full dental prosthetic. The process itself is a simple one, and usually takes about 30 minutes. We administer a local anesthetic and then offer sedation, so you enter a calm and relaxed state. We then take out the teeth in question with a pair of forceps.
Preserving the Extraction Site
Once we remove the teeth, we will perform a ridge preservation procedure. Essentially, this involves placing a graft onto the area to preserve the jawbone, preventing the loss of mass and density following the removal of your tooth. This way, when the extraction site has properly healed, we can move forward with placing dental implants. Your jaw will be fortified enough to support a new implant post, so you receive a replacement that not only looks and fits like a natural tooth, but also helps preserve the jaw and your facial structure.
Placing Dental Implants
We plan and guide the placement of the dental implant posts with special digital systems. The posts are inserted into the jaw, where they bond due to their biocompatible nature. As a result, they act like natural roots and prevent loss of mass and density that usually follows tooth loss. We then attach a restoration or affix a prosthetic, so you have a new tooth or smile ready to last for decades, or possibly even a lifetime. If you have any questions about how we address issues like tooth loss or tooth extraction, or about ridge preservation, then contact our team today to learn more. We look forward to helping you make big changes to your smile in 2021!
Do You Have Any Questions About Implant Dentistry?
We would like to help you maintain a full smile, even if a tooth needs to be removed. To learn more about how our team removes teeth and replaces them, then schedule a consultation by calling Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.