Dental Implants

When it comes to implant dentistry, it is rarely a one-size-fits-all approach. No two patients—not even two sites in the same mouth—are the same. For a definitive procedure like dental implants, your Genix Implant Expert will carefully assess your medical and dental health, and create your personalised treatment plan.

Treatment planning for dental implants will typically include:

• an exam,
• a non-invasive three-dimensional x-ray of your jaws and teeth called a CBCT scan, and
• sometimes impressions or optical scans to make a model of your jaws and teeth.

Data from these pain-free procedures then allows your Genix Implant Expert to balance your personal preferences and choices to present to you all the possibilities that you have for your teeth replacement. In the majority of the situations, the precise length, width and type of dental implant, along with the type of crown you will receive on top of it for you is planned to the smallest detail long before the actual procedure: no guessing games here!

Apart from ensuring the accuracy of your implant-supported restorations, these appointments allow you to get detailed, in-depth answers to all the queries that you may have. Remember: no questions are silly! Also remember:  your Genix TCO is your always-at-hand point-of-contact that is there with you throughout your 5-star Journey with Genix Implant Dentistry.

Once you have finalised the treatment plan, the process of restoring your missing teeth with implants is completed in the following straightforward steps:

Appointment 1
Placement of implant under local anaesthesia

(Genix also offers sedation for a calming experience. Ask your Genix Implant Expert)

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Connecting a temporary crown/bridge/denture/closure-cap to the implant

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Healing for six weeks to six months

Appointment 2 and 3
Connecting a gum-builder if necessary, followed by healing for two weeks

(This step is often not necessary since the gums are usually already built in the previous step)

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Making impressions, recording bite and taking shade

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Taking a trial of the final lab-manufactured bespoke crown/bridge/denture to ensure you like the shape, shade and bite

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Permanently attaching the final crown/bridge

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All done!

Sometimes, more than one trial may be needed.

Further adjustments to the crown/bridge/denture may be necessary in subsequent appointments.

Almost anyone with missing teeth can receive implants—that includes single, multiple or all missing teeth—and that is regardless of the reason for tooth loss: sporting injury, accident, dental cavities and even pathologies.

When it comes to dental implants, age is no bar: adults of all ages with good general and oral health can and do get dental implants, whether they’re in their 30s or 70s.

Implant-supported teeth are firmly secured, and require no more than regular maintenance. They have also been shown to have very high success rates in the UK—as high as 95%—so they have a potential to last very long! For anyone who desires the quality-of-life improvements that a healthy dentition can bring, dental implants represent an investment worth considering. Below is a list of some situations in which implants can work well:

• Replacing missing front tooth or teeth
• Replacing missing back tooth or teeth
• Replacing all missing teeth
• Improving removable partial or complete denture-wearers
• Improving existing crowns and bridges that are unsatisfactory
• Replacing chipped or cracked teeth that are broken beyond repair
• Replacing grossly decayed teeth that are not salvageable
• Replacing root-canal treated teeth that are breaking down

Implant-supported restorations come in a number of designs. Your Genix Dental Team will perform a thorough assessment of your mouth and discuss the treatment options that work the best for you.

No pain? Really??

First things first! A lot of people think that the procedure to insert a device that looks like a screw must be painful. The reality, however, is that most patients feel very little discomfort—usually in the period immediately after the surgery—and others are able to manage the minor discomfort at home with simple painkillers. This is mainly thanks to the specialised equipment and technology that is used in implant dentistry, which minimises the surgical morbidity and speeds up recovery.

Implants are your third dentition!

After losing your milk teeth, loss of your permanent teeth usually meant that one had to rely on support from gums or remaining adjacent natural teeth to replace teeth, or choose to leave a gap and live with it. With the advent of implants, for the first time in the history of humankind, we now have an opportunity to replace missing permanent teeth with bio-friendly root replacements. This means no more reliance on remaining teeth or gums to support the replacement. If you think about it, this is really as close to nature as we have ever been: a root supporting its tooth crown.

Bespoke, all the way

Once the root replacements are placed in the form of your titanium dental implants, depending on the type of replacement planned, over the span of a few appointments, a tailor-made crown, bridge or denture is attached to the implant. This is usually done once the implant has healed and become firm. Depending on the kind of restoration, different types of sturdy and biocompatible screws are used to secure the replacements.

Same-day or later, the timelines are always convenient

There are several types of implant-supported replacements, with varying timelines depending on your requirements and the conditions in your mouth—your Genix Implant Expert will inform you about the best options after a consultation. Here are some possible options:

Same-day teeth

Same-day teeth refer to replacement that you go home with on the same day you receive your implant. They usually require some pre-procedural planning, and can be in the form of a temporary crowns and dentures connected to the implant. Apart from the fact that they offer the convenience of fewer appointments, same-day teeth also mean not having to be without teeth for even a day: something especially helpful for our patients with keen aesthetic requirements.

Standard implant-supported teeth

Standard protocols for implant-supported teeth involve either one- or two-step journey. The two-step procedure includes a healing period anywhere from six weeks to six months before the replacement teeth are connected to the implant. In the one-step procedure, the missing teeth are replaced in the same appointment as the implant installation (or within a maximum of 72 hours). On occasions, it is possible to club removal of a tooth or tooth root, place the implant and connect a replacement for the missing teeth all in the same appointment: this is called ‘immediate’ implant placement, and your Genix Implant Expert will advise you on whether this is a suitable option for you.

Implants are not expensive

While the up-front cost associated with implants can be more than the conventional methods to replace missing teeth, they may often really be the best today’s dentistry can offer you in your situation. Knowing how long they last, their excellent functioning and appearance means they have become the standard of care in many parts of the world. The proven improvements they bring to the Oral Health-related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) allows dentists to recommend them to their patients, recognising that the investment made in getting them is likely to be felt worthwhile in the long run.

At Genix, we have spared no effort to ensure that costs should be last reason why our patients feel implants are out of their reach. Genix offers the ease of spreading the payments across months thanks to our convenient payment plans. Remember to ask your Genix Treatment Coordinator (TCO) if you wish to explore these possibilities.

Dental implants offer numerous benefits over conventional methods for replacement of missing teeth. Some of the most significant ones are:

• Fixed- and fixed-removable replacements that stay secure in place, giving you confidence when eating, speaking and smiling
• Conservation of remaining teeth since they don’t have to be trimmed down to support a bridge
• Preservation of your natural bone structure
• Aesthetically pleasing and low-maintenance restorations
• Restorations that last for a long time
• Preservation of health of the remaining teeth since the implant-based replacements don’t take support from them. Conventional teeth replacements can increase the chances of decay or loosening in the remaining teeth that support them.

• Your implants need meticulous maintenance at home, and regular professional inspections in your follow-ups. Purpose-designed brushes and other tools may be prescribed to you to make this easy. This is usually very easily learned, and can be effortlessly incorporated in your day-to-day routine.
• As always, ensuring good oral hygiene with twice-a-day brushing with a fluoride toothpaste and interdental cleaning with floss helps a lot.
• Your implant-supported teeth are very strong and can withstand large loads. It helps to keep in mind, however, that whatever you wouldn’t bite and chew with your natural teeth is best avoided with implants too. This includes really hard nuts, candy, and please… use a bottle opener for the wine, will you?

• Smoking and existing gum disease pose a risk to the long-term health of implants, and will need to be corrected prior to placement of implants.
• Patients who have had intravenous bisphosphonates may not be able to receive implants soon after the completion of their course of medicines.
• Our jaws continue to grow longer than you would think: sometimes until as late as 21 years of age! Young patients may need to wait until they can receive implants.
• Sometimes, additional procedures to build your bone or gums may be indicated to make space for placement of implants. A typical example is when the tooth has been lost a long time ago, leading to deficient bone in the local area. These procedures can be in the form of placement of bio-friendly bone substitutes—often called ‘bone grafts’—that provide a scaffold for your body to make bone. In the upper back teeth, bone can be gained with procedures that gently relocate the structures there—these procedures often come under the umbrella of ‘sinus grafts and sinus lifts’. Gum gain is accomplished in a number of ways with ‘soft tissue grafts’, commonly utilising extra tissues from another area of your mouth. On occasion, these procedures may mean an additional appointment and some extra oral hygiene measures in the immediate post-procedure period.
• Your implants are planned keeping in mind a very long-term window of function—usually spanning decades—and with good hygiene, they should last very long. However, with anything that is subjected to severe wear-and-tear, implants may need re-treatment over a period of time, just like knee and hip implants.

Your Genix dental practice will be happy to take you on our 5-star Patient Journey to receive high-quality dental replacements supported by dental implants! Keep an eye out for Genix’s VIP days to book in a free consultation!