New patients
A first visit is ninety minutes: full examination, periodontal chart, photographs, and a written plan before you leave.
Treatment 03
A titanium root placed in bone to carry a single crown or a bridge, with a healing period the biology decides.
An implant is a threaded titanium fixture placed into the jaw, which the bone then grows onto over several months. That process — osseointegration — is biology, not carpentry, and it sets the timetable. Once integrated, the fixture carries a crown, a bridge or a denture attachment. Implants do not decay, but the gum and bone around them can become inflamed and lose attachment in much the same way as around a tooth, so maintenance matters more than most people are told.
The sequence
A cone beam CT scan shows bone volume, density and the position of the nerve and sinus in three dimensions. We plan the fixture position digitally against the crown we intend to make, not the other way around.
Where the ridge has resorbed, bone graft material is placed to rebuild volume. Healing before the fixture goes in is typically four to six months for a socket graft, longer for a sinus lift.
Placed under local anaesthetic, usually through a surgical guide printed from the plan. Most people describe pressure rather than pain. Expect some swelling for two to three days.
Three to four months in the lower jaw, four to six in the upper, longer over a graft. A temporary tooth bridges the gap where the site is visible.
A scan of the integrated fixture, then a custom abutment and crown. The bite is set so the implant carries slightly less load than the teeth either side.
Reviewed at six months, then annually with radiographs. Implants need a different cleaning technique and a different instrument set from teeth.
Instead of this
A cosmetic practice that never names the less profitable option is not giving you a choice.
Faster — weeks rather than months — and no surgery. The cost is preparing the two neighbouring teeth, which may be perfectly healthy. Where they already carry large fillings, a bridge can be the more conservative choice overall.
A ceramic tooth with a metal or ceramic wing bonded to one neighbour. Minimal preparation, reversible in practice, and well suited to a single missing front tooth in a young patient.
The least expensive option and the least popular. It is a reasonable interim while a graft heals.
If the gap is at the back and the bite is stable, this is a real option. We will show you what tends to happen over ten years and let you decide.
Before you agree
This is the part most sites leave out. It is also the part that a consent discussion is legally and ethically built on.
Fee
Single tooth, start to finish. CBCT, surgical guide, fixture, custom abutment and crown. Bone grafting is quoted separately from $850. Sinus lift from $2,400.
Indicative. Your written plan is itemised and is produced only after an examination. Members take 15% off restorative fees. We are out of network; you receive a coded receipt for out-of-network reimbursement.
A word on language. You will not read the word “painless” on this site, and you will not read that any restoration is permanent. Local anaesthetic makes most treatment comfortable at the time; some procedures are sore afterwards and we will tell you which and for how long. Restorations are maintainable, not eternal. Anyone promising otherwise is selling rather than consenting.
Questions
No, and we will not use that word. A well-maintained implant in a healthy mouth can serve for decades, and many do. But implants can fail, and the crown on top is a wearing component. What we can commit to is planning, technique and a maintenance programme.
The surgery itself is done under local anaesthetic and most people report pressure rather than pain. Afterwards, expect soreness and swelling for two to three days, usually managed with over-the-counter analgesia. We will not describe any surgical procedure as painless.
Because bone grows at its own rate. Loading a fixture before it has integrated is how implants fail. Where the bone is dense and the site is ideal, some cases can be restored sooner, and we assess that on the CBCT rather than promising it in advance.
Smoking raises the failure rate and the peri-implantitis rate significantly. We will still treat you, but we will ask you to stop for the healing period and we will be explicit about the raised risk in your consent discussion.
Related
Composite sculpted in a single visit, or full-coverage ceramic where a tooth no longer has enough structure left to hold together.
Full periodontal charting, scaling and root planing where it is indicated, and a maintenance interval set by your risk rather than a calendar.
Thin bonded ceramic facings that change the shape, edge and shade of the front teeth as one set.
$190, credited against treatment. Scottsdale, on Kierland Boulevard.