Dental Implants – Royal Palm Beach, FL

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

First things first, our team will need to confirm your eligibility for dental implants. While most healthy individuals with one or more missing teeth qualify, underlying issues such as decay, gum disease, and insufficient jawbone density can affect the success of the procedure. If we identify any other problems, we’ll address and restore your oral health before proceeding. Once your mouth is in good condition, we’ll provide a personalized treatment plan outlining what to expect, including the timeline and overall cost.

Dental Implant Surgery

After Dr. Civetti has determined you’re the right candidate for implants during your consultation, the first step in your treatment will be their surgical placement. You will be referred to a trusted oral surgeon for this procedure! What happens is a titanium post will be inserted into the appropriate empty socket(s) in the jawbone and then allowed breathing room to bond with your natural structure to create a lasting foundation.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment Placement

Over the next four to six months, the dental implants will fuse with the surrounding jawbone via a natural process called osseointegration. This will help form a stable, natural-feeling foundation for your final restorations. Recovery time can vary for each patient since every case is unique.

Once you have healed, you'll return to our office to have the abutments placed. These connector pieces are necessary before receiving your personalized crown, bridge, partials, or full dentures. Our team will take impressions of the area and craft your restoration while your gum tissue heals over the following weeks.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations

Once your final restorations are ready, we’ll invite you back to our office for the last phase of your dental implant treatment. Our team will anchor your replacement tooth or teeth onto the metal posts, ensuring a proper and comfortable fit. We'll take the time to confirm that your bite is balanced, address any questions you might have, and ensure you're satisfied with the results before you leave to show off your new and improved smile.

Day-to-Day Benefits

Of course, dental implants’ day-to-day benefits are their most apparent ones. These advantages are:

• Lifelike Looks – Thanks to their porcelain surfaces, dental implants match your other teeth in size, color, and shape. Their titanium bases also ensure they stay secure and won’t fall out.
• Higher Confidence – By restoring your smile, dental implants should boost your confidence. You’ll feel less anxious about your looks, speech, eating ability, etc.
• Better Eating – Dental implants restore your bite’s strength when they fuse with your jaw. As a result, they let you eat your favorite tough foods again.
• Easy Maintenance – In essence, you can clean and maintain dental implants like natural teeth. You just need to brush them twice daily and floss between them once daily.

Health Benefits

The health benefits of dental implants are also notable. Over time, they provide perks like:

• A Cleaner Mouth – Untreated smile gaps let bacteria that can cause tooth decay and gum disease spread. Luckily, dental implants fill these spaces and make your mouth healthier.
• Tooth Support – If they’re left alone, smile gaps will slowly tilt your remaining teeth until they fall out. Dental implants prevent that outcome when they’re placed.
• A Stronger Jaw – Tooth loss slowly erodes the jaw, leading to a high risk of facial collapse and similar issues. The good news is that dental implants stop (and reverse) this erosion.
• Good Nutrition – Due to restoring your bite, dental implants expand your dietary choices. This wide range of meal options helps you get the vitamins and minerals you need.

Long-term Benefits

Given the proper care, dental implants have many long-term benefits as well. The most notable of these are the following:

• High Rate of Success – Compared to other restorations, dental implants almost always succeed for long periods. They even have a ten-year success rate of 98%!
• Enduring Effects – Dental implants tend to last a long time once they’re placed. The average implant has a lifespan of 15-20 years, while a well-maintained one can work for 30 years or more!
• Cost-Effective Care – While they may look pricey at first, dental implants are cost-effective in the long term. They rarely need repairs or replacements (unlike dentures or dental bridges), so they don’t involve a lot of expensive follow-up work.

Preliminary Treatments & Dental Implant Surgery

Any preliminary procedures that you need before you can get dental implants, like gum disease therapy, tooth extractions, and bone grafting, will contribute to the overall cost. For lots of patients, these treatments are needed to ensure that the dental implant placement procedure is successful. Preliminary treatments are sometimes partially covered by dental insurance, so this is something that you should double-check with your provider.

Implant surgery incurs its own cost depending on where the implants are being placed in the jaw and what kind of sedation or anesthesia you get. We want you to receive the best results possible, so we work with local specialists for your surgery. They will discuss with you separately exactly what you can expect to pay for the surgery.

The Parts of Your Dental Implant

Here are some of the factors that will contribute to the cost of your dental implant:

• Number of dental implants: Depending on the number of teeth that you need to have replaced and where they are located in the mouth, you will need more or fewer implants. The more implants you need, the higher the cost will be.

• Type of restoration: Crowns, bridges, and dentures all have different costs. The smaller the restoration, the lower the cost usually is.
• Size or material: Implants can be made from zirconia or titanium. These materials are at different price points.
• Brand of dental implant: Dental implants come from different manufacturers. This can influence their cost.

How Dental Implants Can Save You Money

It may be tempting for patients to save money by choosing bridges or dentures to replace their missing teeth. However, dental implants have benefits that you can’t get from other tooth replacement options. They can even help you save money in the long run. You won’t need to worry about paying for replacements every 5 to 7 years either like you would for dentures. There’s also no need to stock up on adhesives or soaking solutions. Dental implants can also help you to avoid oral health issues, like gum disease, misalignment, and tooth decay, that will require costly treatments in the future.

Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?

A lot of the time, dental insurance plans will not cover the cost of dental implants, but there are a few exceptions. Parts of the final or preliminary treatments are sometimes covered. Our team is happy to work with you to help you understand what is covered in your plan before you begin treatment. This way, we can help you fully maximize your coverage.

Making Dental Implants Affordable

If you don’t have dental insurance, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you are completely out of luck. With our in-house wellness plan, you can save on procedures completed at our office. We also work with CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit, third-party financing companies that can split the cost of your treatment into manageable monthly installments with little to no interest. For more information on your financial options, don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our friendly team members!

Are Dental Implants Safe?

As with any dental procedure, you’ll need a thorough exam to determine whether you’re a good candidate for dental implants. If you have diabetes, cancer, or other conditions that could make the surgery risky, we’ll take that into consideration before recommending surgery. That said, if you’re in fairly good health, dental implants are incredibly safe.

We also partner with experienced specialists who know the potential pitfalls of dental implants and how to avoid them. This minimizes the risk to you, allowing you to rest easy.

How Can I Tell If My Dental Implant Is Failing?

Typically dental implants only fail after decades of wear and tear. If you notice your dental implant is loose, or that the restoration attached to the implant seems like it may come off, this is a sign that it could fail soon, and you should talk to us about a replacement.

You should be vigilant for any signs of severe infection, as this could also cause an implant to fail if nothing is done. If you’re noticing severe pain, inflammation, or swelling on the gums, we’d like to bring you in to check for a serious infection, so call us right away.

How Long Does It Take to Recover from Dental Implant Surgery?

If you’re worried about how long you’ll be out of commission, don’t worry—most people can return to work as soon as the next day after surgery. Any swelling or bleeding should stop completely within the first few days.

However, it’s recommended that you take it easy for a week or so, avoiding any kind of exercise or strenuous activity. If your work involves hard labor, you may want to call out for at least that long.

While you should feel back to normal after a week or two, it’ll take considerably longer for the implant to fuse with the jawbone completely, around six months. Most of this will happen under the surface, meaning it shouldn’t affect you much day to day.

How Soon After a Tooth Extraction Can I Get Dental Implants?

This heavily depends on the patient, and we’d need to have a better idea of your circumstances to give you a straightforward answer. If your jaw is healthy enough after the extraction, you may be able to get your dental implant immediately afterward.

However, we typically recommend waiting 3-6 months for the extraction area to heal. You also shouldn’t wait too long, because if you do, it’s possible the jawbone could shrink due to the lack of a tooth. This makes getting a dental implant at all a bit more challenging.