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Losing a tooth as a child is an exciting prospect. You get to tuck it under your pillow, wait eagerly for the tooth fairy, and rest assured that a new one is coming to take its place. Losing a tooth as an adult, however, is much less exciting. No tooth is coming to replace your missing one, and the gap in your smile can affect your confidence and health. Unfortunately, tooth loss is a common issue, but in modern dentistry, we have many innovative techniques to restore your smile! One of the best tooth replacement solutions is mini dental implants, which replace the entire tooth from crown to root, keeping your jawbone healthy and your smile full. But what are mini dental implants? Thankfully, Dr. Brent Bradford has answers to all of your questions.
What Are Mini Dental Implants?
When you lose a tooth, you lose the whole structure, including the crown (above your gum line) and the root (below your gum line). Tooth roots provide important stimulation to your jawbone when you bite or chew. Without this stimulation, your jawbone will lose mass and volume over time!
Dental implants are titanium posts that replace both the crown and the root, helping maintain your jawbone’s health. Brent Bradford, DDS, offers the innovative mini dental implant, a smaller and sleeker version of the common traditional implant with many unique advantages.
These titanium implants are less than 3 millimeters in diameter, and have a sleek one-piece design. Due to their smaller size, patients with a reduced jawbone structure from tooth loss are still eligible to replace teeth with implants! Their slender build preserves the surrounding bone and tissue, using less bone structure than a traditional implant and facilitating faster healing.
Additionally, mini implants’ single-piece design allows Dr. Bradford to place them in just one appointment, rather than placing many components at various appointments. The average healing time for a traditional implant is about 6-9 months, as your gums need to heal and your implant requires more time before it is secure enough to support your final restoration. With mini implants, you can have your new smile instantly, and a final restoration in just 21 days!
Mini dental implants are also half the cost as traditional implants because they have fewer parts, a simpler procedure, and require fewer dental visits.
How Do We Use Mini Dental Implants?
Dr. Bradford uses a minimally invasive procedure to place mini dental implants. He creates a small pilot hole in your gums and jawbone to gently guide the implant in place. Once in your jawbone, these implants are immediately stable enough to support temporary restorations. With mini dental implants, you can go from missing teeth to a full smile in just one day!
At your free consultation, Dr. Bradford will take a 3D digital scan of your smile to determine your needs. From there, he will create a custom treatment plan using implant-supported restorations to revitalize your smile. These restorations include:
- Dental crowns: These tooth-shaped caps replace one tooth at a time, snapping on to a mini implant that sticks out above the gum line. Depending on your situation, you may need multiple crowns, or crowns in combination with dental bridges.
- Dental bridges: Similarly to a structural bridge, these restorations “bridge” the gap your missing teeth leave behind. Bridges are made up of multiple crowns attached to one another, creating a row of teeth. Unlike traditional bridges, implant bridges don’t have to alter the healthy teeth on either side of the gap as they rely on mini implants for support.
- Implant dentures: Brent Bradford, DDS, offers various forms of dentures including snap-on dentures, semi-permanent, and permanent roundhouse bridges. Each implant denture has its own unique design and benefit.
Mini dental implants last a very long time, but only if you care for them properly. Just like your natural teeth, you must brush, floss, and attend routine dental visits to maintain dental implants.
Book a Free Consultation With Dr. Bradford Today!
While losing a tooth as an adult may not be exciting, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it! At Brent Bradford, DDS, Dr. Bradford uses mini implant technology to restore your smile. With their minimally invasive technique, affordable cost, and faster results, mini dental implants are a reliable and effective method for tooth replacement!
Schedule a free implant consultation with Dr. Bradford today to learn if you are a candidate for a mini implant supported smile.
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