If I am missing a tooth or need to extract a tooth, how do I know if I am a candidate for a dental implant?

While your family dentist can help make this determination, it is often useful to contact a Periodontist or an Oral Surgeon (Implant Surgeons) before any treatment is completed. Dental Implants require healthy, strong bone in appropriate quantities, density and locations to support the implant. The way a tooth is removed and the procedures undertaken at the time of tooth removal, can have a large effect on the amount and location of the bone in the healed ridge after the tooth has been removed. To protect and preserve the bone, a tooth must be removed as gently as possible, which often requires separating it into smaller portions. A socket preservation procedure will often be recommended where the bone is thin to increase the odds that the bone heals adequately to support a dental implant. Without this procedure in areas where bone is thin, the healed bone is usually too narrow to accommodate a dental implant and a ridge augmentation procedure becomes necessary extending treatment time and expense. It is sometimes possible to combine necessary procedures like a sinus lift, a ridge augmentation or even the dental implant placement with the needed tooth removal, which can decrease treatment time, promote a better or more esthetic healing result and decrease costs associated with the dental implant. An implant surgeon will evaluate the condition of the tooth along with the surrounding gums and bone before the tooth is removed and then work with your family or restoring dentist to determine the best way to remove the tooth and the type and order of procedures necessary to get the best outcome.

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