DENTAL IMPLANTS SPECIALIST

Missing teeth are more than just an eyesore — they can actually contribute to severely adverse oral health conditions. If you’re missing teeth, schedule a consultation for dental implants with Gohar Hovsepyan, DDS, or Káren Baghdasaryan, DDS, MBA, AAACD, AFAAID, at Viva Smile in Van Nuys and Granada Hills, California. Viva Smile has helped numerous patients restore their missing teeth with natural-looking and state-of-the-art dental implants.

What are dental implants?

Implants are artificial tooth roots surgically implanted into your jawbone, where they replace a missing tooth root and provide a foundation for a restoration, like a crown, bridge, or dentures.

Implants are made of titanium — a material your body doesn’t recognize as a foreign substance. This enables your implant to actually fuse with your jawbone in a process called osseointegration. Once fused, your implant functions just like a natural tooth root and requires little maintenance.

What are the benefits of dental implants?

Implants provide a number of benefits for your smile, such as:

  • Maintaining the structure of your jawbone and preventing bone loss.
  • Restoring your ability to properly chew and speak.
  • Improved comfort over other tooth-replacement options, like dentures.
  • Look and feel incredibly natural.
  • Can be cared for just like natural teeth.
  • Preventing your other teeth from shifting out of alignment.

Implants make your smile whole again. This has benefits beyond medical or cosmetic concerns. Your smile is an essential component of who you are, and when it’s full and healthy, you feel complete.

Am I a candidate for dental implants?

Most patients with missing teeth would benefit from having dental implants, but there are some qualifications you need to have in order to be an appropriate candidate, including:

  • Healthy gums.
  • Good oral hygiene and at-home care.
  • Sufficient bone tissue in your jaw.
  • Non-smoker.

Your dentist at Viva Smile can conduct a more thorough and personalized assessment of your smile to determine if implants are right for you. If you don’t have enough healthy bone tissue in your jaw to support implants, you might need to have a bone graft before you can get implants.

What is involved in getting implants?

Your dental implants are installed in three separate phases.

During the first phase, your dentist places the implants in your jawbone. This involves a quick and easy procedure where your dentist makes a small incision in your gums, drills a hole in your jawbone, and inserts the implant.

During the second phase, called osseointegration, you spend your time healing and letting your jawbone fuse with the implant. This phase can take anywhere from two to four months.

Once your implant and jawbone have fused, you come back to the office for your final phase: placing the restoration. Your dentist takes an impression of your mouth with an intraoral scanner. These impressions are used by your Viva Smile provider to make your prosthetic.

The office has same-day crown capability, so often you’ll leave with your new prosthetic tooth replacement the same day.

To learn more about how implants can improve your smile, schedule a consultation with Viva Smile today by calling the office or booking a visit online.