The Pain Free Dental Implant Procedure
Posted on: 22 May 2018
Most people fear dental implants because they don't like the idea of having a screw drilled into their jaw. The immediate thought is of how painful it can be, and thus they dismiss the idea of implants altogether. This decision, for the most part, is arrived at when people don't understand the damage, like shifting and imbalance, that's caused by a missing tooth.
Shifting occurs when the tooth behind the missing one leans forward, and the one in front of it leans back. Shifting often results in misaligned teeth. Imbalance is damage that happens in the mouth over a period of time. Some of your teeth end up working twice as hard and wear out faster than other existing teeth. It is, therefore, important to have a dental implant when you have any missing tooth.
If you're worried about pain and discomfort, modern day dentistry has developed a way of making tooth implant procedures painless. And the best part is that you don't have to worry about additional pain meds after the procedure is completed.
Dated Implant Procedures
You should first consider how implants used to be placed in the past. A freehanded approach was used, where vision and feel were the guiding principles for placing the implant. Dentists would begin by making an incision on the ridge of your jawbone and the tissue would be reflected back. This would let the dentist know exactly where to place the implant.
After the implant was placed, the tissue would have to heal. The healing process is what often led to post operation pain and discomfort. To reduce the pain of this procedure, most people opted to be sedated so as to avoid discomfort from the actual incision. Sedation made the procedure less invasive, but it didn't change the discomfort and pain during healing.
Modern Implant Procedures
To solve the discomfort associated with dental implants, modern dentistry has altered much of the actual implant process. In the past, a 2D panoramic X-ray was taken to determine where incisions would be made and where exactly to implant the tooth. Today, a 3D X-ray is taken. 3D imaging works much like a CAT scan, enabling dentists to visualize the bone and surrounding tissues.
This makes it easier to determine exactly where the implant should go, and it eliminates the need for making an incision. In fact, all that is needed is a small pain free tissue punch (which is about the size of the implant) and the dental implants can be successfully placed with minimal discomfort.
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