At Grosso Family Dentistry, we promote overall health and well-being. Nutrition and oral health are vitally important.  However, there are times where teeth need to be extracted and a new tooth “root” needs to be surgically placed. This is an outpatient surgery and can be done in stages. For example, Drs. Grosso and Grosso may want to extract the damaged tooth in one visit, and place the new tooth “root” at the next visit. The final restoration, a crown, will be attached once the surgical area has healed.  

This new tooth “root” is called a dental implant.  Dental implants are one of the fastest-growing treatment plans in dentistry. Bones need stimulation. Think about someone who has broken a leg or an arm, and they have to wear a cast for a length of time. When they take their cast off, their bone has most likely atrophied, and their leg or arm may appear much thinner. This is because bone needs stimulation or it will deteriorate. When teeth are used for chewing, they are stimulating the bone that they are integrated with.  This bone-tooth integration is called osseointegration. So without the stimulation, the bone would weaken or disappear. If a tooth cannot be saved, a new root needs to be inserted into the bone to continue to stimulate. The root, often made of titanium, is a screw-like object called an implant.

Maintaining strong bone and overall oral health aren’t the only reasons to have a dental implant placed. An individual may get a lot of joy out of eating steak, or apples. These foods aren’t possible without strong teeth or crowns restored upon strong roots (implants). It is a priceless experience to see a person regain some of their happiness by being able to eat the foods they love. Drs. Grosso and Grosso have performed dozens of implant procedures and can walk patients through a treatment plan that is customized to their needs. An initial consultation is necessary, and x-rays and impressions must be taken to accurately create a surgical plan for the patient. Each patient will have different bone amounts, hardness, and structure, as well as unique soft tissue. The care and planning that goes into one of Grosso Family Dentistry’s implant cases are far above the dental standard. As most of our patients know, you are treated like family within our practice.

Improved smile and speech are two other major benefits of dental implants.  There are stories of patients having the biggest job interview of their life, just weeks after their restoration. And the extraordinary confidence the patient enjoyed was only overshadowed by the improvement in clarity of their speech, and the improved gleam of their smile. These are life-changing aspects of presence and identity. In turn, confidence and lower stress will improve overall health and happiness. Many positive chain reactions can begin with the proper dental implant treatment plan.

Another benefit of implants is the fact that the patient now has a fixed solution.  Partial or full dentures may be removable, move out of place, slide, etc. They also need to be removed and cleaned constantly. Dental implants will remain in place, and with a wonderfully created restoration, it will be like having new permanent teeth.

Sometimes patients may become fully edentulous on one or both arches. The mandible is the lower arch of the jawbone, and the maxilla is the upper arch.  There may be a situation where an accident has occurred and all teeth were lost, or where a patient’s remaining teeth are a detriment to their health and need to be removed. Drs. Grosso both have experience with full arch solutions as well. At Grosso Family Dentistry, we can give you a caring consultation to determine whether dental implants are a healthy solution for you.