Restorative Dentistry

Life doesn’t always go as planned. When you hit bumps in the road toward good oral health, we are here to help with quality restorative services. We offer attractive porcelain crowns to protect and reinforce damaged teeth, but patients sometimes face tooth loss. Whether you’ve lost a single tooth to decay or trauma or you need an entire set of replacement teeth, Dr. Spencer and his team have you covered with restorative dentistry designed around your individual needs. We provide dental implants that are truly the next best thing to your original teeth. These implants are permanent, do not need to be removed for cleaning or sleep, and look and function like natural teeth.

Implant Placement

To determine your candidacy for dental implants, you’ll first need a consultation with Dr. Spencer. He will evaluate your mouth and take X-rays to investigate your bone structure. Every tooth sits in the bone of your jaw. When you lose a tooth, the bone space where the tooth was situated begins to collapse. If enough time has passed since you lost the tooth, you may no longer have sufficient bone integrity to hold a dental implant. In this case, you may need bone grafting in preparation for implants.

However, most patients are already good candidates for dental implants without bone grafting. Once you’re ready for implants, your surgeon will perform the surgery, inserting your dental implants into the bone. The implants themselves are basically titanium screws that act as teeth roots. Once the implants are in place, you’ll need to wait several months for healing and osseointegration, the process during which your implants bond to your bone.

After this process is complete, you can have permanent restorations placed on your implants. These restorations will likely be crowns to replace individual teeth. If you’re replacing many or all of your teeth, you may have to receive implant-supported dentures instead.

Implant-Supported Dentures

If you no longer have any of your natural teeth, it would be expensive, cumbersome, and time-consuming to replace each tooth with an individual dental implant. Instead, we have a better solution. Implant-supported dentures allow you to replace an entire arch of teeth with as few as four to six implants.

The approach works like this. You’ll have implants placed just as if you were receiving individual dental implants. Once the implants have integrated into your bone, Dr. Spencer will create custom dentures for you. These dentures will not be the same as conventional dentures. Instead of resting on your gums, your new dentures will be supported by your dental implants.

What makes implant-supported dentures better than traditional dentures? For one, implant-supported dentures are secured and held in place by implants. This arrangement means no slipping or shifting, which is common with dentures secured only by adhesive paste. In other words, you can feel free to eat your favorite foods and participate in social occasions without fear of embarrassment.

Furthermore, patients report that implant-supported dentures are more comfortable than conventional dentures. These dentures are less likely to rub against your gums and cause soreness than their traditional counterparts. Also, many people find that implant-supported dentures have a more natural appearance than traditional dentures.

Please contact us now to arrange a dental implant consultation with Dr. Spencer.