Replace Your Missing Teeth with Natural-looking Dental Implants

When a natural tooth is lost, the desire is to restore your smile with a replacement that closely resembles the lost tooth. Dental implants in Miles City, Montana, are specially designed to mimic your natural tooth’s function and appearance. Instead of just replacing the tooth’s visible part (the crown), an implant replaces the tooth and its root to offer a beautiful, sturdy, and stable replacement option. 

Need to rebuild your smile with a dental implant? Schedule an appointment with Yerger Family Dental for expert dental care. 

A dental implant in a nutshell

A dental implant is a three-piece dental appliance that replaces one or multiple missing teeth. The implant itself is a titanium screw surgically placed in the jawbone to anchor one or more prosthetic teeth. 

An implant post doesn’t work in isolation. Above it, we attach a metal connector called an abutment. This component protrudes through the gum line to link the implant to the artificial teeth.

The final component of the implant is a natural-looking crown or denture that becomes the visible and functional part of the implant. Once your implant sets, it will be virtually indistinguishable from other teeth, seamlessly integrating with your entire smile.

The dental implant procedure: What to expect

The process starts with an in-depth examination with an implant dentist. During this initial consultation, the dentist examines your oral health for signs of gum disease, decay, and other issues. These issues must be addressed first before dental implant treatment. 

We also use dental X-rays to ensure your jawbone has adequate volume and height to support an implant. If not, we’ll suggest a bone graft to stabilize your bone for an implant.

After the preliminaries, your dental implant treatment involves:

• Implant surgery: After numbing your gums with local anesthesia, the dentist surgically places a titanium screw at a precise location in the jawbone. Then, we place a healing cap and suture the surgical site to pave the way for recovery
• Healing and fusion: Over the next six to nine months, the implant will be left to heal and fuse with the jawbone through osseointegration. During this period, observe optimal oral hygiene and adhere to follow-up appointments to ensure successful integration
• Abutment placement: Through a minor surgery, we’ll re-open the gums to replace the healing cap with an abutment (metal connector)
• Tooth restoration: After making impressions of your implant, we’ll custom-make your restoration to replicate your tooth’s function and appearance

Once we restore your implant, we’ll give you post-care instructions for an event-free recovery. Immediately after implant surgery, you should refrain from tobacco products and alcohol as they can affect healing. You should also observe optimal care to keep the implant site infection-free. After restoring your implant, you should care for your restoration as you usually do for other teeth. This care involves diligent brushing, flossing, and bi-annual dental appointments.

The dental implant advantage

Dental implants offer numerous benefits, including:

• Renewed confidence
• Preserved jawbone
• Restored oral function
• Versatility to replace one or more missing teeth
• Easy maintenance
• Lifetime durability
• Stabilize nearby teeth

If you’d like to replace your missing teeth with dental implants, we are happy to discuss it with you at Yerger Family Dental. 

Call (406) 233-1241 to schedule an appointment today with Drs. Chase Yerger and Diana Stewart.

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