PROCEDURES

Dental implants are changing the way people live! They are designed to provide a foundation for replacement teeth which look, feel, and function like natural teeth. The person who has lost teeth regains the ability to eat virtually anything and can smile with confidence, knowing that teeth appear natural and that facial contours will be preserved.

The replacement of missing teeth has always been the ultimate challenge to the dental practitioner. Various materials and prosthetic designs have been advocated over the years, but all-in-all, many were merely a "peg leg", frequently coming up short of the patient's desires for esthetics and function. Dentures that slip and click can minimize ones’ comfort, function, and most importantly, ones’ self confidence.

The development of modern dental implant technology though has completely changed our ability to predictably replace missing teeth. Impressive successes with both maxillary and mandibular implants have been duplicated in multi-center studies with various implant systems. The concepts founded in the development of osseointegrated implants have since become integrated into many medical and dental specialties; indeed, it has touched all healing disciplines. Today, a seemingly endless variety of prosthetic, craniofacial, and orthopedic combinations can be employed to replace missing parts of the body as a result of this technology.

The implants themselves are tiny titanium posts which are inserted where teeth are missing. These metal anchors act as tooth-root substitutes. They are surgically placed into the bony structure of the jaws. The bone bonds with the titanium, creating a strong foundation for artificial teeth. Small posts are then attached to the implant which protrude through the gums. These posts provide stable anchors for artificial tooth replacement.

In addition to replacing missing teeth, implants also help preserve facial structure, preventing the bony ridge deterioration that occurs when teeth are lost. Ultimately, dental implants function and look like your natural teeth, restoring your function, comfort, and confidence.

What Type of Implants does The Pacific Coast Center for Oral & Facial Surgery Place?

The Pacific Coast Center for Oral & Facial Surgery is heavily involved in dental implant reconstruction. Our doctors have over twenty five years of implant experience with thousands of implants successfully placed and restored. Our success with implant restoration mirrors that of the published data, approaching 96% success rates over 10 years. Our doctors are familiar with all major implant systems and routinely place a variety of manufactures fixtures, dependent upon the desires of the restorative dentist and requirements with respect to the patient's bone type.

Below are a list of some of the major systems that we routinely place and support:

Nobel-Biocare BIOMET 3-I (Implant Innovations) Astra-Tech     BioHorizons Bosker / TMI Systems  Strauman / ITI  TBR BICON Atlantis Custom Abutments

Appropriate patient selection and treatment planning is tantamount to successful outcomes. Here at The Pacific Coast Center for Oral & Facial Surgery, we provide implant care in a "team format" with your restorative dentist the primary team leader. We work with many of the areas leading implant restorative dentists. In the event that a patient requires a referral to a restorative dentist, we have many qualified sources.

The Surgical Procedure

For most patients, the placement of dental implants typically involves two surgical procedures. First, implants are surgically placed within the jaws. For the first four to six months following surgery, the implants are not visible, located beneath the surface of the gums while the bone gradually bonds (integrates) with the implant.. You should be able to wear a temporary tooth replacement or dentures and eat a soft diet during this time. In most cases, your life style and eating habits are unchanged during integration.

In experienced hands, the placement and final restoration of dental implants is generally quite straight forward. Implants can be used to replace a single tooth or be used in various numbers to replace an entire arch of teeth. The use of dental implants to replace single teeth can spare the adjacent teeth from further destruction as a result of crowning and subsequently prolong their usable life spans.

The actual surgical phase is generally very simple for the patient, and is most commonly performed with local anesthesia or deep conscious intravenous sedation, depending upon patient desires or requirements for the actual procedures. A small incision is made in the area gum tissue and the titanium dental implant is inserted into a prepared site in the bony ridge. The gum tissue is closed with dissolving sutures and the implant is allowed to heal for 4 - 6 months. In most cases, a temporary prosthesis can be worn during the healing phase so that the patient does not have to go without teeth.

BONE GRAFTING

Adjunctive procedures including maxillary (upper jaw ) sinus floor augmentation, homologous (freeze dried demineralized human bone) and/or autogenous bone grafting (bone taken from other patient sites such as the jaws, pelvis, skull, tibia), distraction osteogenesis (creating bone by slowly moving bony segments), neurovascular bundle repositioning, and soft tissue grafting are also routinely incorporated into the reconstructive treatment plan. When major bone grafting is necessary though, our patients can be safely and conveniently treated in our hospital-level and state licensed ambulatory surgery center (Pasadena Ambulatory Surgery Center, Inc.).

After complete healing (osseointegration) of the implants has occurred, a second minor uncovering procedure is performed and attachments can be placed to allow proper gum healing. Frequently, in 2 - 6 weeks, the final restorations can be fabricated and placed by your restorative dentist. If you do not have an experienced restorative dentist, we can provide you with one of our many area implant dentists.

Many implants though can be placed simultaneous to the extraction of a tooth or teeth and in selected cases, immediate temporary restoration can be performed. This can allow the implant patient to receive an immediate tooth replacement avoiding the normal months of healing. To see if you are a candidate for this method or implant replacement in general, please speak with our doctors.

Treatment Planning and Education

Finally, in order to optimize our ability to treat our implant patients, in 1991 Dr. Stephens created “The San Gabriel Valley Implant Study and Treatment Planning Group”; an active multi-doctor study group with emphasis on open forum treatment planning. We have specialty advisors in prosthodontics, periodontics, laboratory procedures, orthodontics, and surgery in order to provide treatment advice for all types of cases. Many members of this group have years of implant experience and some have teaching positions at leading area universities. This allows The Pacific Coast Center for Oral & Facial Surgery to provide the highest level of team care for our implant patients at no additional expense.

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