How Long Does Dental Implant Surgery Take? Timer Starts Now!

How long does dental implant surgery take? Timer starts now!

How long does dental implant surgery take? Do you think it will last forever? Uh-oh! That will be pretty unbelievable if that will happen. Well, this article is just right for you if you want to know the time dental implant surgery may take. Meanwhile, just like plastic surgery procedures, it will indeed take time. Come on! Let’s find it out together. We’ll indeed find answers in this article. Before you proceed, check out this post about dental implants vs bridges to learn more about the two procedures.

Dental Implant Surgery

An ongoing dental implant surgery inside a dental clinic.

Before we proceed to how long does dental implant surgery take, let us first know what a dental implant surgery involves. Then, with attention to dental implants, these are the treatment options a patient can receive to replace missing teeth.

Dental implants are devices that can serve as replacements for your tooth roots. Additionally, dentists permanently install these metal, screw-like posts into the jawbone. Thus, implants will integrate with the bone in the long run.

Aside from that, dental implants do not only serve as a replacement only. It preserves the smile and the patient’s overall facial structure. Additionally, it typically works with a dental crown on top of it.

What Happens In Dental Implant Surgery?

Preparation

First and foremost, you need an evaluation to know if you are an excellent candidate for this procedure. Then, either the dentist or an oral surgeon will evaluate your condition. In this case, you might undergo x-rays.

Additionally, the dentist will make teeth model comparisons to ensure that the implants match your natural teeth. Besides that, they also have to confirm if your jawbone is in good condition as well.

The procedure typically involves various dental professionals, including an oral surgeon, dentists, and a periodontist. Thus, even during the planning stage, several dental professionals are already working together.

During the Surgery

In actuality, dental implant surgery involves several stages. It might even apply other procedures, such as tooth extraction, if necessary.

Furthermore, the patient’s jawbone requires complete healing around the implant before the entire procedure can continue. Meanwhile, here are the details of the step-by-step process of this surgery.

1 Tooth extraction

The dentist needs to remove the damaged tooth first. Dental implant placement can follow after the extraction. However, your dentist is most likely to wait before proceeding with dental implant placement if there is a tooth infection.

2 Bone graft

This procedure involves preparing the patient’s jawbone for surgery. In some cases, bone grafting might be necessary. A bone graft is essential if you have already lost your teeth for quite some time.

During this time, the bone structure surrounding this area will deteriorate. For this reason, a bone graft procedure is necessary. It will help regrow the bone structure to support the implant.

3 Dental Implant Placement

A trained dentist can perform this step in the procedure. However, if they are not, an oral surgeon is most likely to do this part of the surgery.

4 Osseointegration

This part of the surgery is the step that would require most of your time to complete the dental implant procedure. In the latter detail of this article, we will discuss the time each of these steps will require from you.

During this time, your implant post will start to heal and will integrate with the surrounding bone. In this case, if you want to fasten your healing process, it would be best to eat soft foods.

Moreover, you have to be extra careful when doing your dental care at home. You don’t want to hinder your implant’s healing process.

5 Dental Crown Placement

Dental crowns serve as the artificial tooth that the dentist will place on top of the implants. These are custom-made so that they will exactly fit in the gap inside your mouth. In effect, no one will know you have an implant because this crown looks like your natural teeth as well.

How Long Does Dental Implant Surgery Take?

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All in all, dental implant surgery involves various steps before completed. Given these points, let us discuss how long does dental implant surgery take in total.

First, for tooth extraction, the time it requires will depend on the condition of the tooth. The severe the decay, the longer the procedure will take time.

Next is the bone graft. If you are a patient that requires bone grafting, it will take about three to four months to fuse with your natural bones completely.

As for dental implant placement, it would only take one to two hours. Afterward, it will have a healing cap to serve as protection for your implants.

Now, for the healing part or the osseointegration. As we already mentioned earlier, this is the part of the procedure that will take most of your time. The integration of the implant and bone will take three to six months.

Lastly, it is the dental crown placement. This procedure will only take one hour. Voila! Your dental implant procedure has reached its final step to complete.

How long does dental implant surgery take? Longer than you thought!

Despite its long time frame to finish, we can say that dental implants are popular procedures for missing teeth. Moreover, its high success rates determine how effective dental implants are.