Dental implants near Mirfield are an increasingly popular way of replacing lost teeth. This is because they give you back the full functionality of your teeth and allow you to eat, talk, and laugh just as you did before, with no restrictions on diet, or fears of making a fool of yourself with wobbly false teeth.

That said, having dental implants can be quite a journey, and for some people it can take several months. The procedures and recovery times are getting quicker and quicker, but let’s take a look at a typical single implant procedure at Greenside Dental Care near Mirfield.

Your journey

When you opt for dental implants near Mirfield, you won’t be the first person who has felt daunted and anxious about the idea of having the dentist drill into you jawbone. However, it is worth knowing that there are fewer nerve endings in the jawbone than the teeth, so a local anaesthetic is plenty to numb the pain. That said, if you are particularly anxious, we’d far rather you opted for oral or intravenous sedation so that you can fully relax throughout the procedure.

When you are settled comfortably, and numbed, the dentist begins by cutting a flap through your gum into the area of bone where the implant will go. The dentist then carefully drills an artificial tooth socket into the bone, starting with a fine drill and gradually increasing the size of the hole. This is done slowly so as not to crack the bone, and with plenty of water to keep the bone cool. If it overheats, it can kill off important bone cells.

The titanium implants are inserted into the bone. Stage two is an important healing stage that can take several weeks. You will need a day or two in bed, and a soft food diet for a week or more, but you will gradually resume your normal routines, while the titanium implant and the bone tissue mesh together until the implant is held as firmly in place as a normal tooth root.

After that you come back to us, and we add an abutment with an internal screw onto which your new crown or bridge can be fitted.