Dental Implants

Benefits of Dental Implant Treatment:

• Preserves youthful facial appearance
• Virtually stops the bone deterioration (bone collapse) process
• Restores natural biting and chewing capacity
• Looks, feels and functions like a natural tooth
• Does not compromise adjacent teeth
• Increases comfort and stability (eliminates the need for adhesives)
• Eliminates pain of dentures and partials
• Improves digestion
• Hygienic (cleaned like a natural tooth)

The healthiest thing to do when you lose a tooth is have it replaced. Otherwise, you risk problems with biting, chewing and speaking, headaches, muscle pain and an unattractive appearance. Fortunately, using dental implants, there are many ways to have comfortable, secure, natural-looking tooth replacements no matter how many teeth are missing.

Dental implants can serve as the base for many tooth-replacement options, including bridges, dentures and individual artificial teeth. Implants are surgically implanted in the jaw to provide a comfortable, secure fit and a natural look.

In the first one or two appointments, the post or anchor is implanted in the jaw. The replacement tooth, bridge or denture is fitted and installed when the bone and gums have healed. Surgery may be performed in an office or hospital with local or general anesthesia.

What to Expect

A thorough examination is made to determine your needs and conditions. We discuss the choices of treatment plans based on possible options and decide with you on the most appropriate direction. Once the treatment plan is established and all data is collected we schedule an implant insertion visit and give you prescriptions.

All surgical procedures are performed at our office. Most of the insertion procedures, even complex ones, do not require more than an hour or two in surgery. You, as a patient, are awake, but if you prefer, we can give you prescription for a sedative such as Valium™. Depending on the situation, we allow up to several months of bone healing before finishing the restoration for you. During that interval temporary replacement teeth are used for your comfort.

The making and fitting of your new teeth usually take two to four visits after the healing time is completed. Most of these visits do not require any anesthesia and consist of recording relationships between implants, the gums, the teeth, the lips and fitting the new teeth so that they perform as well as possible and look their best.

The routine care of implants and their restorations is not much different than routine care of other dental work or natural teeth. You need to keep them free of plaque and in good repair. Regular checkups and hygiene visits protect your investment.

Dr. George W. Kay has been placing and restoring implants for over twenty years. He feels that it is the most important development of the last fifty years in dental prosthetics. He values this option as an important tool in helping his patients attain normal and healthy function and appearance after suffering a loss of teeth. Dr. Kay has not only kept abreast of developments in Implant Dentistry through continuing education, he has been a teacher and an innovator in the field. In addition to pioneering surgical techniques and developing instrument designs he has been giving continuing education lectures on the subject throughout United States and Europe and teaching implant techniques at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

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