THE DENTAL IMPLANT PROCESS: WHAT EACH VISIT ACTUALLY FEELS LIKE

Visit 1: The exam - nothing happens to you at this one

The first visit is diagnostic, and it's worth saying plainly: nothing is drilled, numbed, or extracted. If you've been avoiding this step because of what you imagine happens at a dental visit, this one isn't that.

You'll have X-rays and a 3D CBCT scan taken - you sit or stand still for a few moments while the scanner moves around you. The intraoral scan is a small camera wand passed over your teeth; no impression trays, no gagging on putty. Then Dr. Baghdasaryan sits with you, walks through what the scans show in plain language, and lays out what your treatment would involve - including exact costs, the number of visits, and whether your bone needs any preparation first.

You leave knowing precisely where you stand. No decision is required on the day, and nobody follows up with pressure. The exam is $150, covered at 100% by all PPO dental insurance plans.

What patients are most surprised by: how unhurried it is. You'll have time to ask everything, and the answers come with reasoning, not just recommendations.

Visit 2: Placement day - pressure, not pain

This is the visit people lose sleep over, so here's the honest account.

Arriving. The appointment runs 60 to 90 minutes for a single implant. If you've chosen IV sedation, it's started first - Dr. Baghdasaryan trained in IV sedation at USC and administers it in-house with full monitoring. You stay breathing on your own and can respond if spoken to, but most patients remember almost nothing afterward. One patient described the whole surgery as feeling "like 5 minutes."

The numbing. If you're staying awake, the injection is the part most people dread - and it's the part we've specifically engineered out. The Wand delivers anesthetic through computer-controlled flow, slow and consistent, which is what eliminates the sting of a traditional injection. Patients who've feared needles their entire lives routinely tell us they didn't feel it happen.

During placement. Once you're numb, you feel pressure and vibration - a pushing sensation, some sound - but not pain. Most patients say the anticipation was dramatically worse than the experience. If anything changes, you raise a hand and everything stops; you're never expected to white-knuckle through.

Going home. You leave the same day. If you had IV sedation, someone drives you and the rest of the day is for resting. If you had local anesthetic only, the numbness fades over two to three hours.

That evening. As the numbness wears off, soreness sets in - most patients describe it as a dull ache rather than sharp pain, handled with over-the-counter pain relief. Dinner is soft: soup, yogurt, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes. You'll sleep with your head slightly elevated, and you'll likely sleep fine.

The first week: shorter than you'd think

Days one to three. This is the soreness window. It peaks around day two, along with any swelling, then improves steadily. Most patients are back at work the day after placement - the exceptions are physically demanding jobs, which may warrant an extra day. Soft foods continue, you avoid smoking entirely, and gentle warm salt-water rinses keep the site clean from day two.

Days four to seven. The soreness fades into the background. Eating gets easier. By the end of the first week, most patients aren't thinking about the implant much at all.

The follow-up. We check the site at one to two weeks to confirm healing is on track. And after significant procedures, you'll get a phone call from the practice checking how you're doing - patients regularly tell us no dental office has ever done that before.

Months one to six: the quiet phase

This is the longest part of the process and the least eventful. Under the gum, the bone is fusing with the titanium post - osseointegration - and your job is simply to live your life while it happens.

What you'll feel: nothing, mostly. The site heals over and the implant sits quietly under the gum doing its work. You eat normally, work normally, travel normally.

What about the gap? If the space is visible when you smile, a temporary option covers it for the duration - we plan that before placement, so you're never walking around with a hole in your smile.

Why we don't rush it. The four-to-six month window exists because bone matures on its own schedule, and placing a crown on an implant before the bone has fully fused is one of the main reasons implants fail elsewhere. We confirm integration before moving forward rather than working to a calendar. The wait is the boring part of the process - and the boring part is what makes the result last.

Final visit: crown day - the good one

Once healing is confirmed, the last visit is the one patients enjoy.

The intraoral scanner takes a digital impression of the implant and your bite - the camera wand again, no trays.

Your final crown can often be fitted in two weeks, when it arrives from the lab.

The crown is checked for fit, bite, and shade against your neighboring teeth, adjusted until it's right, and attached. Then you look in the mirror at a complete smile.

The first few days with your new tooth: it may feel slightly novel to your tongue and your bite - that passes within days as your mouth recalibrates. Within a week or two, most patients report they genuinely forget which tooth is the implant. That's the standard the work is held to: a tooth that's indistinguishable from the ones you were born with.

After: what it takes to keep it

Less than you might expect. You brush and floss the implant like a natural tooth and keep your regular cleaning visits - the implant can't decay, but the gum and bone around it still need care. Looked after properly, a dental implant typically lasts longer than any other dental restoration.

Ready to start with the visit where nothing happens?

The whole process begins with the exam - the visit with no drilling, no needles, and no commitments. It's $150, covered entirely by PPO insurance, and you'll leave knowing exactly what your case involves, what it costs, and what each step will feel like for you specifically.

Book online or call (818) 900-2800. If you'd rather ask questions from your couch first, a free Zoom consultation with Dr. Baghdasaryan is available - though what your bone and your timeline look like are questions your X-rays will answer at the exam.