Often times when patients hear about the possibility of having new teeth-in-a-day, they think it’s too good to be true. Fortunately, it’s not! It is, in fact, a proven and quite innovative procedure that many highly-skilled oral surgeons perform many times each year. As it stands, roughly 500,000 Americans receive dental implants each year, according to the American Academy of Implant Dentistry. Therefore, the possibility of a dental patient having an installation of new teeth in one day is certainly a reality today.

However, let’s be clear, there are expectations you may have that won’t match the reality of the procedural process. Before you have this procedure, there is a lot that has to happen. For instance, there will be a lot of planning, office visits, and various preparations that must take place first. This article discusses five realistic expectations that dental patients should have if they’re considering teeth-in-a-day. Read more here from Houston’s experienced dental physicians of OMSH.

1.      Teeth-in-a-Day Are Dental Implants

When oral practitioners refer to “teeth in a dayâ€, they are describing full upper and/or lower arch dental implant restorations. Whether the patient is edentulous or has a mouth full of diseased teeth, teeth-in-a-day options offer new highly functional implants. In fact, once you have these implants, you’ll quickly experience how they look and function like natural teeth.

As with all forms of dental implants, they help you return to eating all the healthy foods you love and improve your speech. Teeth-in-a-day options also help restore your smile, your self-confidence, and your natural facial aesthetics through preserving your jawbone.

2.      You Should Be a Good Candidate for Teeth-in-a-Day

If you have missing teeth, decaying teeth, or chronic dental issues, these implants may offer a viable solution for you. Your first step, however, would be to schedule a consultation with an oral physician. Yet, when it comes to this type of implant surgery, you’ll want to make sure to consult with an experienced dental surgeon, like the oral maxillofacial surgeons of OMSH.

Highly-skilled and specialized oral surgeons will be able to provide you with a comprehensive evaluation to help you determine candidacy. Most patients who are in general good health and have no underlying chronic issues going on with their teeth and gums are good for the surgery.

However, if there are issues, you may have to wait and have an additional procedure(s) first, like a bone graph beforehand. If an oral surgeon finds that you’re not a good candidate for teeth-in-a-day, however, there may be other viable options.

3.      A Lot Can Happen Before Your Surgery

Once you’ve received your consultation and the oral surgeon recommends dental implants as an option, the preliminaries begin. You’ll make a series of different visits to the surgeon’s office for fittings, graphs, and various x-rays. The office will also educate you about the procedure and what to do during your recovery period.

All of the planning and preparation takes place before the “big day†in order to help make the teeth-in-a-day procedure even possible. However, this procedure is not just a ‘one size fits all’ kind of thing, each patient is different and has different needs. Therefore, an experienced oral surgeon will treat your case uniquely so that you can obtain the best outcome.

4.      There May Be Some Exceptions

Each dental implant treatment plan comprises of both a surgical and restoration phase. In order to attain success with the teeth-in-a-day process, your bone around the implant must heal. Your surgeon will be able to check this over time through confirming that the osseointegration process has taken place. This is where your dental bone efficiently fuses with the implant and accepts the implant like a real tooth root.

Furthermore, it may be necessary to prepare the site to accept a dental implant, which may require a few additional procedures prior to surgery. As mentioned earlier, bone graphing is one example. Another instance, however, involves when the surgeon has to remove all deteriorated and decayed teeth from your mouth and apply antibiotics to remove harmful bacteria and dead tissue prior to surgery. Without such procedures, the chances of your dental bone and gums properly receiving the implants, and your mouth properly healing is very slim.

However, once you’ve received adequate healing, the restorative phase can begin. Once the restoration is complete, then you can have implant surgery. And depending on the complexity of each patient’s case, this could take anywhere from one to six months, or longer. Overall, there are times when dental practitioners need to perform significant work that may require more than one day for implants.

5.      The Surgical Procedure & Recovery Process

Overall, the teeth-in-a-day procedure is a culmination of preparation, careful planning, and sometimes other preliminary procedures that must take place prior to the day of execution. In general, this procedure takes place in an outpatient surgical facility, like an oral maxillofacial surgeon’s office or hospital. This surgery itself will involve sedating you so that you feel no pain or discomfort during the procedure.

Surgeons will then begin to install the titanium implant directly into the jawbone. After that, they will install the implant abutment and crown. If you’re having teeth-in-a-day in the form of All-on-4, they will immediately place your teeth and you will leave that day with new teeth.

As for recovery time, it will vary for each patient. However, your oral surgeon will provide detailed instructions as to what you need to do to allow your dental bone to properly heal. What’s most important is that patients follow these instructions carefully so that they experience a full recovery and implant success. Overall, all patients can expect some downtime and will need to go through a recovery period.

Connect with OMSH Today

After you complete your implant treatment, it will be especially important to maintain excellent oral hygiene and see your dentist regularly. Ultimately, you are going to love your new teeth because dental implants help to restore your overall quality of life.

All it takes is that first step. Connect with an experienced oral surgeon to learn more and see if dental implants and teeth-in-a-day options are right for you.  Contact OMSH today at 832-509-4505 or request an appointment online.