Perhaps they have been recommended to you or you know of someone who already has them.

Dental implants are now considered the worldwide gold standard for missing teeth as expectations grow higher and higher with modern dentistry. Implants may be used to replace single teeth, multiple teeth, and to support and stabilize partial and complete dentures –especially lower dentures.

Dental implants can be placed at the time of tooth extraction or any time after that provided there is a sufficient volume of bone. If a natural tooth is extracted, it preferable to place the dental implant within a year of the extraction to prevent further bone loss (ie disuse atrophy). If there is not a sufficient amount of bone, additional bone grafting procedures are available to increase the volume. They include particulate grafts, block grafts and sinus grafts.

Implants not only provide function, they also retain beauty. Like natural teeth an implant stimulates bone and will retain the bony support of the facial muscles, tissues and skin. As a result, the facial features are not compromised by lack of support. They are part of the support system that will prevent irreversible facial changes that makes one look older.

In the year 2000, Dr Uchida took special training and graduated from the Misch International Implant Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the leader in dental implant education. This ten month intensive course allows him to both surgically place and restore implants in the same office. And, safely sedated using a small pill, this procedure has become extremely routine. Now you have the confidence of keeping things totally relaxed, convenient and simple.

"Isn't it painful"

A common question. Having implants done is very similar in experience to having a simple tooth extraction and definitely more comfortable than third molar/wisdom tooth surgery. The reason is that bone has very few nerve fibers within it and as long as the periosteom (the thin layer of tissue surrounding the bone) is handled gently, there is no to very minimal pain. In fact, most of our implant patients do not take their pain medications the next day. Surprising, but a reality. Our implant patients are given a highly effective combination of drugs to help them along during and after surgery. An oral sedative is given to totally relax them, a steroid is given to minimize swelling, a pain medication is given to help with any discomfort and antibiotics are given to help the body handle infection. Typically one day of recovery is all that is required.

Something new “Mini Implants”
We have been using mini implants since 2001 with great success. They are being used to stabilize the lower complete denture when one does not have enough bone width for conventional implants and one does not wish to undergo additional bone grafting procedures. This implant is 1.8mm wide compared to the 3.5-6mms of the conventional implant. It is especially helpful for people who have been wearing lower dentures for a long time, have had significant bone loss and wish to stabilize their denture. It is a one step surgical procedure and the denture is stabilized that same day. There is no 4-6 month healing/waiting period. Typically 4-6 mini implants are placed in the front lower jaw area where the bone is extremely dense.

"Can you use mini Implants on the uper Jaw" I use Mini Implants for my upper denture also? It is not recommended to use mini implants in the upper jaw. The bone in most cases is a lot less dense and too soft. The upper and lower jaws are two different animals and should be treated differently. The upper jaw bone has a quality like that of a balsa wood and the lower jaw has a quality like that of a hardwood, oak or maple.