Technology has come a long way in the science of oral surgery. Not long ago, getting a dental implant to replace a tooth was a long and difficult process that required several visits to a dental implant surgeon near you to complete. Advances in technology for oral surgery and our prioritization of offering the best treatment options, we can now do dental implants in a single day for eligible patients.
It’s a true modern miracle of oral surgery. If you had told an oral surgeon specializing in dental implants even a couple decades ago that they’d be popping titanium teeth into patients’ mouths left and right, they honestly would have thought you were crazy. You can walk into our clinic for a single appointment and come out with a brand new smile. Long-gone are the days of playing the waiting game to get yourself a high-quality missing tooth replacement. With same-day dental implants, your time in the dental chair is minimized. This means fewer Novocain treatments, faster healing, less rearranging of your work schedule, and fewer trips to our office. This saves time and stress, especially if you live in Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, or surrounding neighborhoods, where traffic can be a pain, especially at rush hours. All in all, it’s a major win for everyone. We don’t have to take up too much of your time, and you get to be on the fast track to receiving tooth replacements that look realistic and give you your smile back.
Same-Day Dental Implants: A Streamlined Approach to Permanent Tooth Replacement
Long-term studies have shown great success of immediate implant placement and delivery of the fixed prosthesis. Working together with your general dentist, Dr. Puckett and his staff can remove teeth, place dental implants, and deliver a fixed (not removable) prosthesis in one day. Computer-assisted planning of the case before surgery results in more efficient implant placement, less patient discomfort, reduced or eliminated need for bone grafting, and an easier recovery. Of course, this all depends on a handful of factors. Your dental implant dentist will want to take a look at the surrounding teeth, the quality of your jawbone and gums, and your overall health before being able to offer up a chance to get new dental implants done in a day. Technology is rapidly advancing, and we’re hopeful that the future will give us more opportunities to offer same-day tooth replacements to everyone who walks through our doors.
So yes, when we say “same-day dental implants,” we mean exactly that: high-quality dental implants for tooth replacement delivered on the same day you walk in.
Using this technology for over a decade, we have found it to be successful even in patients who have worn dentures for many years. Even with significant bone loss, Dr. Puckett and his staff can evaluate your condition and formulate a plan to restore your mouth and function. Any surgeon who offers tooth replacement options can tell you that implants are almost always better than dentures. Dentures don’t really stop your jawbone from degrading, but a tough dental implant constructed from titanium is actually inserted into the jawbone. The constant stimulation that the jawbone receives from that titanium false chomper is what keeps things in check below the gums.
One-Day Dental Implants: A Single Oral Surgery in Several Steps
While hearing the phrase “dental implants completed on the same day” might lead you to believe you can stroll over to your local dental implant specialist, walk up to the front desk, say “three implants, please” and be on your merry way, it’s a tiny bit more involved than that. Two to four appointments are needed prior to the day of the dental implant surgery. There’s still the typical consultation exam and planning done by the tooth replacement surgeon and their team, but everything after that is highly expedited compared to a regular implant.
Step 1: Examination and 3-D cone beam computer tomography (CT) scan
The 3-D cone beam is a newer, more compact version of the traditional CT scan, and it saves your dentist performing the tooth replacement a ton of time. The system uses scatter radiation to provide clearer images than X-rays. Views and angles can be manipulated for superior digital implant planning. Three-dimensional evaluation also helps to eliminate complications.
During the scan, a focused X-ray beam in the shape of a cone is moved 360 degrees around your head to make up to 600 images, also called views. It’s a lot of imaging for a machine to take in a short period of time, but with all of these views of your mouth, jawbone, and surrounding structures, your oral healthcare provider is able to carefully examine the situation from all angles—literally—and come up with a gameplan for the big day.
Using the CT with current software, we can plan challenging implant cases which previously were not possible. We can accurately assess landmarks such as the lower jawbone canal, the sinuses beside the nose and adjacent teeth, as well as the volume, height, width, and angle of bone.
The technology also allows us to conduct flapless implant placement, which is less invasive, less painful, and improves soft tissue outcomes.
Step 2: Plan coordination with your dentist and the dental lab
Once we have a plan, our team coordinates with your dentist and the dental lab to finalize how it will be executed. This involves a step-by-step plan that’s custom-tailored to you and your unique situation. By the time you come in, your surgeon and their team are wholly familiar with what needs to be done to get you that long-lasting titanium tooth replacement that you’ve been waiting for.
Step 3: Treatment day
Because the procedure is mapped out in every detail, we are ready to start when you arrive. The replacement teeth are custom-made to your mouth and your situation. We place the same day dental implants in a way that prevents them from moving while the implant is fusing with the bone. Once you’re all squared away, your dental implant dentist will give you important aftercare instructions that need to be followed to ensure success with your new implant. That doesn’t sound like it takes too long at all, right? The whole procedure only takes around an hour of time. That’s next to nothing compared to the five months to a full year it can take to get an implant with the regular process.
This one-day process streamlines treatment, saves time, reduces anxiety, and improves results. After just one treatment visit, you will have natural-looking teeth that can stay healthy with proper hygiene. You can eat, smile, laugh and speak immediately. Once the implants heal fully, they will be as strong as your natural teeth.
Yes, dental implants done in a single appointment — a dream come true!
Step 4: Healing
As with traditional implants, same-day implants must securely fuse with the jawbone. The process is known as osseointegration, and it can take some time. Three to six months of time is the average length. Be sure to be gentle on your new pearly-white replacement tooth while the post fully fuses with the jawbone. You must follow Dr. Puckett’s recommendations for oral care after the procedure to avoid complications. Smoking will slow healing and the process of osseointegration.
How Same-Day Dental Implant Surgery is Different
In the traditional method of replacing teeth with dental implants, Step 3 happens in two parts, separated by several weeks. The initial implant procedure would be the installation of the implant itself. You’re then left time for your bone to fuse around the implant. It’s a bit of a misnomer—most people think of the implant being the actual fake tooth replacement for missing teeth. Actually, the implant is simply the post, or the titanium screw that goes into your jawbone. The second implant surgery would then be to install the abutment and the false tooth crown. Depending on health, healing and the extent of the mouth reconstruction, this process can take up to a year. Now you can see why people flock to get quality dental implants installed on the same day if they’re eligible. There’s virtually no waiting around in comparison, and you get to fast track your way to a new smile.
Same-day dental implants take those two processes to do them in tandem, saving months of healing time and months of not having a tooth crown at the site of the implant. But because the new implant crown has to remain stable as the jaw heals around the implant root in the months following the surgery, patients must have sufficient jaw health for this procedure to work.
If your jaw needs just a bit of help, we may need to do a dental bone graft to strengthen the jawbone to be able to accept the dental implants. Dr. Puckett will access your jawbone and mouth on your first appointment. For patients with more compromised bone health, same-day dental implants aren’t a viable option for oral reconstruction. However, with our surgeon’s skill and array of options for tooth replacement, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t get dental implants via traditional methods.
Schedule a consultation with our oral surgeon to see if you’re a candidate for same-day dental implants.
