Dental Implants – Brookfield, WI

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

During your consultation, your dentist in Brookfield will learn about your oral health and medical history to determine if dental implants are a good fit for you. We may also take some detailed scans of your mouth and learn about your goals for treatment. In some cases, we determine that a patient should undergo some preliminary procedures, such as a bone graft or gum disease therapy, before they can go ahead with dental implants. In other cases, we can get started on planning their implant placement surgery right away with a specialist in the area. If you have any questions during your consultation, don’t hesitate to ask — we are eager to share our knowledge.

Dental Implant Surgery

During your surgical appointment, the specialist will start by numbing your mouth and possibly sedating you. Then, they’ll create incisions in your gums and carefully insert the implants at precise, pre-planned positions. They’ll close the incisions and give you detailed post-op instructions to make your recovery as smooth as possible. Most patients are able to return to work within a day or two of their surgery.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment Placement

Osseointegration is the remarkable biological process through which dental implants fuse with the surrounding bone. It is what allows them to be so strong and sturdy. Following osseointegration, which typically takes a few months, you may undergo a second surgery. The specialist will expose your implants and placing healing caps on them. After your gums recover, you’ll receive abutments, which are small connector pieces that will keep your new teeth in place. (In some cases, it is possible to place abutments at the same time as the initial implant surgery.)

Delivery of Dental Implant Restorations

We will carefully design your restoration (crown, bridge, or denture) based on detailed images and restorations of your mouth. Our goal is to ensure its size, shape, and color provide you with outstanding aesthetics, function, and comfort. Creating a harmonious bite is also a top priority. After a laboratory uses top-quality materials to fabricate your restoration, we will verify that it fits before we secure it on your implants. Adjusting to your new teeth might take a bit of time, but you can expect that soon you will be able to eat, speak, and smile with complete confidence.

Day-to-Day Benefits

When you get dental implants, you have plenty of perks to enjoy every day, including the following:

• No hassle—You won’t experience any changes in the way your smile functions or how you care for your teeth. You can simply brush and floss as usual.
• Freedom to choose—You can eat all of your favorite foods, because implants restore up to 70 percent of your original biting force.
• Smile with complete confidence—You don’t have to worry about slippage when you talk, laugh, eat, or smile.

Health Benefits

Believe it or not, your tooth replacement choice can have an impact on your oral and overall well-being. With the stimulation from the implant post, you can rely on your dental implants to help you maintain your gum tissue volume and jawbone density, which means your smile will be healthy and functional for many years to come. In addition, with a stronger bite, you’ll be able to eat more nutritious foods, which significantly helps you keep your body and mind healthy as well.

Long-Term Benefits

After placement, your dental implant has the potential to last you a lifetime. This is substantially longer than bridges and dentures, which need to be replaced every 5 to 10 years to accommodate the shrinking jawbone. Implants keep the jawbone strong and stimulated, so they can continue to feel comfortable and natural for 30 or more years. This means that, despite the higher upfront cost, you could actually end up saving quite a bit of money in the long run by going with implants.

Who Dental Implants Can Help

If you are suffering from tooth loss, there is a good chance you will be eligible to receive dental implants. Almost any adult who is missing one, multiple, or all their teeth can enjoy a better quality of life with these permanent prosthetics. During your initial consultation with our dental implant dentist in Brookfield, we will look at various factors to determine if you are eligible to undergo treatment immediately or with the help of preliminary treatments. No matter your needs, we will create a personalized treatment plan just for you.

Missing 1 Tooth

If you are one of the 120 million Americans living with a single missing tooth, it’s time to consider how this small gap is negatively impacting your ability to eat, speak, and smile. If you’re tired of hiding from others and want to feel more confident, we can place a single titanium post into the vacated socket. A single tooth requires only one implant and an implant crown, which will be shaped and color-matched to blend seamlessly with the rest of the smile.

Missing Multiple Teeth

If you’re missing multiple teeth in a row, a dental bridge can be fitted with implants to replace them all simultaneously. Only two implants are needed to hold a restoration that restores three or four teeth. To make this work, an implant is fitted on either side of the prosthetic to act as an anchor, instead of using natural teeth like a traditional bridge. If your missing teeth are not consecutive but instead, spread out along a row, we can also create an implant partial that works similarly to a puzzle piece and traditional partial, only instead of metal clasps, it attaches to dental implants.

Missing All Teeth

To replace an entire arch of teeth, an implant denture can fit your needs. Luckily, this option only requires four to six implants and offers greater stability, functionality, and longevity. With a stronger bite force and chewing power, you’ll be able to eat all your favorite foods without worrying about your prosthetics slipping or falling out. Also, they are much easier to clean, so you can better maintain good oral hygiene with an implant denture.

Learn More About Implant Dentures

All-on-4 Dental Implants

Of course, All-On-4 dentures, also known as Teeth-in-a-Day, can replace your teeth in just one well-planned appointment. Using only 4 dental implants that are strategically placed in the densest areas of your jawbone, you will be able to enjoy the same great results as traditional dental implants without the added preliminary bone grafting treatment.

Learn More About All-On-4

Preliminary Treatments & Dental Implant Surgery

Although not all patients require preliminary treatments, your implant dentist in Brookfield will determine if you need bone grafting, sinus lifts, periodontal therapy, or tooth extraction during your initial consultation. If so, these will be added to your overall cost. Your dental implant surgery will also have a separate fee

The Parts of Your Dental Implant

You may not realize it, but the parts of your dental implant also comprise a portion of your overall cost estimate. During your consultation, our team will go over the following with you:

• The number of implant posts you will need – When replacing only one missing tooth, we will use a single titanium post. This will be much less than using 4-8 implant posts for an implant denture.
• The materials used – Titanium and zirconia are the two most popular materials used to create dental implants. According to Total Freedom Dental Implants, however, an estimated 92.5% of dental implants in the U.S. are made of titanium, because it is known for its ability to integrate with bone tissue.
• The type of restoration – Replacing a single tooth requires an implant crown, multiple missing teeth require an implant bridge, and an entire arch uses an implant denture. While a full denture costs more to create, it is still far more cost-effective than traditional dentures.
• The brand – At Elmbrook Family Dental, we determine which brand of dental implants to use, but we will go over the reasons for our choice during your consultation so you can better understand why higher quality products will produce longer-lasting results as opposed to cheaper materials.

How Dental Implants Can Save You Money

For most patients at Elmbrook Family Dental, dental implants are one of the best investments they ever made. There is no other treatment that addresses tooth replacement quite like dental implants because of their ability to restore the tooth roots, not just the crown. They help keep your jawbone healthy and strong, making it easy to enjoy the foods you love. They last significantly longer than both bridges and dentures, which need to be replaced every five to ten years. These traditional prosthetics will only lead to higher costs over time, which you are far less likely to experience with dental implants. Also, more traditional prosthetics require dental adhesives and special cleaning supplies, which are not required of dental implants. Because of their multiple decades of longevity, dental implants are considered the most cost-effective tooth replacement solution, even if they cost more upfront.

Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?

Keep in mind that it is rare for patients to pay for their dental implants all at once. Since treatment can span several months, it’s far more reasonable to pay in monthly installments rather than one lump sum. In many cases, patients will pay for dental implants as they go, giving them time to adjust their budget. Depending on your dental insurance plan, you may or may not receive coverage for dental implants in Brookfield. Our dental office accepts most insurance plans. We’ll help you determine exactly what steps of your treatment are covered, whether it’s the surgery, restoration, or preliminary work. A Healthcare Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Savings Account (FSA) can also help cover the cost of dental implants.

Making Dental Implants Affordable

Programs like CareCredit make it easy to pay for expensive dental care in more manageable chunks, typically with little to zero interest attached. Our team at Elmbrook Family Dental will be happy to provide you with information on how to enroll so you can better budget your dental implant treatment without feeling as if you need to empty your savings account. By breaking up the cost of your care into manageable monthly installments, you can focus more on the progress you’re making in achieving a new and improved smile.

Making Oral Hygiene a Priority

Here’s the reality: your dental implants cannot decay. They're artificial and do not have the same make-up as your natural teeth. However, gum disease is still possible. Maintaining a good oral hygiene routine is crucial to ensuring your dental implants stay healthy.

Brushing your teeth twice a day for two minutes, flossing at least once a day, and rinsing with an antiseptic mouthwash should be the normal routine. You don’t need any extra special products or equipment for your dental implants.

You should know that if you don’t keep up with your teeth and gums, bacteria can grow and lead to plaque building around your gum line. This can cause gingivitis, an early stage of gum disease, and quickly progress into periodontitis. If this happens and it is left untreated, you can develop bone and tooth loss, which can be detrimental to your implants.

Eating a Healthy Diet

Healthy foods do more than just shrink your waistline and help boost your energy. They can also strengthen tooth enamel and encourage optimal gum health. Lean proteins, low-fat dairy, leafy greens, fruits, and vegetables are ideal alternatives to chips, cookies, pasta, and crackers – all of which are packed full of sugars and/or starches. Incorporating too many of these “bad” foods into your diet will only lead to tooth decay, cavity formations, and gum disease. Not to mention, the potential for more serious and complex dental issues that require root canals or even tooth extractions.

Breaking Bad Habits

You may not realize you have what is considered a “bad habit,” but biting your fingernails, eating ice, smoking, chewing on inanimate objects, and even using your teeth as tools all have the potential of damaging not just your real teeth but also your dental implants. If you want to stay out of the emergency dental office and instead, live life with a full, complete, and damage-free smile, make sure you give up your bad habits and adopt newer, healthier ones. Keep sugar-free chewing gum in your pocket or look for cessation resources to help you kick your smoking habit.

Protecting Your Dental Implants

With these new artificial prosthetics living inside your mouth, take the necessary steps to protect them from damage or injury. While this isn’t always easy or avoidable, there are things you can do to keep them safe, especially if you play sports or participate in outdoor activities on a frequent basis. Some of these protective measures include:

• Wearing a mouthguard while playing sports
• Wearing a nightguard while you sleep if you are prone to teeth grinding or clenching (bruxism)
• Avoid opening or tearing items with your teeth
• Being careful eating hard foods

Scheduling Regular Dental Checkups

As part of any good oral health routine, you should plan to attend regularly scheduled six-month checkups and cleanings with our dental office. During your checkup, you can expect your dentist to not only check for decay, gum disease, and oral cancer, but they will also examine your prosthetics and make sure they are in good condition.

Catching and detecting problems early are important to preserving the life of not only your natural teeth but your dental implants, too. If you have questions about the aftercare process or would like to learn more, contact our dental office.

How Long Do Dental Implants Last?

Dental implants are built to last; they’re designed to function as a permanent tooth-replacement solution and with proper care, they can last for several decades! To prolong the lifespan of your new and improved smile, it’s of the utmost importance that you implement a solid oral hygiene routine. This means brushing, flossing, and using a mouth rinse daily. You should also visit us for regular preventive care; this allows us to inspect your implants and ensure there aren’t any underlying issues. Lastly, it’s advised that you avoid unhealthy dental habits which can potentially damage the implant, like smoking, nail-biting, and chewing on ice.

Will People Be Able to Tell That I Have Dental Implants?

One of the coolest things about dental implants is that they recreate your original teeth in terms of look, feel, and functionality. The crown, bridge, or denture that is secured on top of the posts will be crafted from impressions of your mouth that we take, ensuring it looks just like your natural teeth. Simply put, people won’t be able to tell that you have dental implants unless you tell them yourself!

Am I Too Old or Young to Get Dental Implants?

It’s important to note that in order to be a viable candidate for dental implants, a patient’s jawbone needs to have finished developing, so we don’t recommend implants for teens under the age of 16-18. However, there is no upper age limit! As long as you are healthy and have a strong jawbone, or are willing to undergo bone grafting, you’re never too old to get a better smile with dental implants.

Will I Need to Take Work Off for Dental Implant Surgery?

You’ll be happy to hear that you won’t have to endure much downtime following dental implant surgery. While you should absolutely rest on the day of your surgery, most patients can return to work within the following day or two. However, it’s important to keep in mind that every case is different. For instance, you should refrain from physically demanding tasks for at least 3-4 days. After your surgery, we’ll let you know how many days we recommend you take off based on your situation.