 Hello everybody, my name is Andrea and I am a mobile dental hygienist. I get questions often about dental implants and if patients are the right candidate for a dental implant, what are they, how do they work and why would the dentist recommend a dental implant? So it really depends on a couple different things. So basically a dental implant and I'm going to show you a photo right here first. So a dental implant is most like your natural tooth, meaning your bone actually molds to it, most like a natural tooth. So it's going to feel most like a natural tooth without being a natural tooth. So if you lose a tooth and there's a space there, you're going to need to replace that tooth to make a long story short. If you don't replace the tooth, then your teeth shift eventually, they go inwards, it can change the bite, even the top teeth if you have a tooth missing on the bottom. Your top teeth will start to kind of shift down, changing the bite entirely, causing painful eating. It's not a good thing. It doesn't happen overnight. So don't think if you lost a tooth, you have to get a dental implant or a dental bridge that's something similar to right away. No, it doesn't happen overnight, but in two years, your teeth could start to shift or less. It really depends. In some patients, they've had a missing tooth for 10 years and the teeth haven't shifted that much. Other patients, they've had a missing tooth for six months and their teeth have shifted. So I like to talk about dental bridges and dental implants often, but back to the implant. Back to the implant. Sorry. So it actually screws into your bone. That's why it feels the most like a natural tooth, but it's not as invasive and intense as it sounds. It's just basically the dentist is going to screw in that screw into the bone. This implant part here is most like a tooth root. So all of these teeth beside it, those are what your teeth look like. You have the crown above the gums and then underneath you have the tooth root that goes right into your jaw bone, either the top or the bottom. But this is what the implant looks like inside the mouth above the gum. It just looks like a normal tooth crown. Very, very simple. Let me kind of look at a couple other photos for you. I have a PowerPoint when I teach my dental hygiene students and dental assisting students. So here's kind of some other examples for you here. Here's another one. So this is a normal tooth and this is what the implant looks like and this is the process. So how the process works is it's done over a few appointments. Not all people are candidates for a dental implant. So I'll talk more about that later. It depends on your bone levels, depends on your age and depends on your habits. If you're a heavy smoker, the dentist might not want to place the implant for you because it will likely fall out. Not good. But this is the process. So we basically screw the bone in, wait for that to heal. If that heals well, we place sort of that other part in here and then a crown over top and that's what your tooth looks like. And then you don't have that missing tooth anymore. You have that implant in its place. There's no hole there. So very, very important. There's just some other examples of what it could look like. Now this here in this photo, this is an implant supported dental bridge. So I have other videos on my channel here on what a dental bridge is. It's basically, if you have a missing tooth, a bridge is going to, you have to shave around those two teeth that are opposite that missing space, even if they're perfectly healthy teeth, you have to shave around them because then you're going to make a dental bridge to fit over top. And this is that bridge here. So let's say you see you have the missing space here, the missing space here, the missing space here because you decided to do two implant bridges. So here's the implant, here's the implant, and then here's that other missing space. This is a three-part bridge that goes over. To keep it more simple, we'll just stick to the dental implants in this video. It's just the one tooth, the one implant, the one crown, there you go. So that's how it works. They place the screw in first, that piece that goes over top to support the crown, and then the crown over top of that so it looks like a tooth. Somebody looking in your mouth isn't going to know it's a dental implant. Now what is the cost? The cost could be anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 or more. It depends on how many dental implants you're going to get, where the dental implants are, the complicatedness of that case, if you don't have enough bone support. So if your jaw bone is wearing away because perhaps you have gum disease or you have a systemic condition where the bone is very weak, you might not be a good candidate for a dental implant. There are such things as putting bone from somewhere else into that jaw bone, but not all patients are candidates for that either. But that's the first thing we look for is we take x-rays to see do they have enough bone support for a dental implant. The second thing is what are their habits? Do they smoke two packs a day? Your dental implant likely wouldn't hold, it would just fall out. And no dentist wants to place a dental implant, it falls out, and then the patient blames the dentist, tells everybody how they're not a very good dentist, but it's because the patient wouldn't stop smoking. So we do ask you habits first to see if we actually want to go ahead and put in all of that work to place the dental implant. As I mentioned before, the cost might be a factor for some people. It really depends on how many implants and what type you're going to get. I personally love dental implants because it's most like your natural tooth. If you have a space missing, you have a missing tooth due to trauma or something, I do not suggest leaving that space alone because the teeth are going to shift. To cover up that space, you could have a denture. I think we all know what those are. Those are removable, you take them in and out every single day. Not the most attractive things, I wouldn't recommend them, but hey, that might be better for you, or you could have a dental bridge, which is a permanent placement. As I was showing you, where's that photo again, where it's a three part. How many teeth are going to be missing? It depends. That goes over top, or you could have a dental implant, which is just that one piece. Sorry, guys, I thought I was sharing my screen here. So here's that bridge that I was talking about. Let me go over. So again, you guys, here's just some other pictures. This is what it looks like underneath, but inside the mouth. You will only see those crowns. Now, these are dental implants here. The bone support and the gum line is starting to shrink down, starting to recede. This is what happens if a patient doesn't take care of their mouth, doesn't take care of the dental implants, then you will start to see that implant part. So it's very important to take care of your dental implants. How do you take care of them? The same way as your natural teeth, brushing twice a day, using mouthwash and using the water flosser, those types of things. Another thing that I'd like to say is I do not suggest shopping around for the cheapest implants out there. If a dentist is charging not a lot for implant placement, maybe in other parts of the world, it's probably because they don't have very high standards, meaning they will place dental implants on anybody. It doesn't matter if they have gum disease. It doesn't matter if their mouth looks like this. They're going to place them anyway, but they're not going to last. They're going to fall out. So you get what you pay for. You wouldn't want to get plastic surgery by the cheapest doctor you can find, right? Right? Same thing for dental implants. You don't want to go to the cheapest dentist you can find because you want them to hold. Let me just double check, see if I have any other photos for you guys. Here's a larger photo of the one that I had shown you earlier. Just kind of different screws, how we handle the bone, and just other fun stuff. But basically, you guys, if you have any questions, let me know. If you think you are a candidate or you want a dental implant, talk to your dentist, talk to your dental hygienist, and they can help you. Again, I personally love dental implants. They are only meant for if you're missing a tooth. Either get the dental implant or a bridge. Those are my favorite options. Or a denture if you want something removable and you can't afford the other options. But dentures these days are very expensive. So you might not be paying that much more for a proper dental bridge or a proper dental implant. It really depends on what area you are in. If I had to pick between a dental bridge and a dental implant, I would go for the dental implant because it's most like your natural tooth. A dental bridge, it's harder to keep clean. They don't last as long. It's not like your natural tooth and they do have to cut around those healthy teeth that are on either side of that missing tooth because you have to have something to place the bridge over top. So that's why I still recommend the dental implant over the dental bridge. But both in my opinion are great options. So if you have any questions let me know. Thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you in the next one.