Dental Implants – Fort Worth, TX
Specialty Care to Rehabilitate Smiles Affected by Tooth Loss
As a board-certified periodontist, Dr. Amjad Almasri has completed years of additional training that make him an expert at placing dental implants as well as completing advanced preparatory treatments like bone grafting. Having placed thousands of dental implants in his 20+ years of experience, he’s able to complete a wide range of cases, from implant crowns to All-on-4. Call our periodontal office today to schedule a consultation and learn more about dental implants in Fort Worth - often considered the gold standard treatment for replacing missing teeth.
Why Choose Periodontal Associates of Fort Worth for Dental Implant Placement?
- Board-Certified Periodontist with 20+ Years Experience
- Serving Fort Worth for Over 60 Years
- Long-Standing, Friendly & Helpful Dental Team
What Are Dental Implants?
Dental implants are small titanium posts that are surgically placed below the gumline and into the jawbone to restore the root structure of missing teeth. Due to their biocompatible nature, they’re able to naturally fuse with the jawbone through a process called osseointegration, allowing them to anchor any type of restoration in place to rehabilitate a smile. Whether you’re missing a single tooth or an entire row, dental implants can be used to restore any number of missing teeth, making them a versatile solution for most patients.
The 4-Step Dental Implant Process
- Consultation: Your consultation is the first step on your journey towards rehabilitating your smile. During this visit, our team (or your general dentist) will collect any necessary diagnostic information, which could include digital X-rays of your mouth. Dr. Almasri will go over your medical and oral health history with you and discuss your expectations for the treatment. Once we determine you’re a good candidate for dental implants, we’ll be able to schedule your surgery date.
- Surgery: Dr. Almasri completes all dental implant placements in-office. To access the bone of your mouth, our team will create a window in your gums where we’ll secure the implants into the jaw. We’ll then suture the tissue to allow it to heal around the dental implants.
- Osseointegration & Abutment Placement: Over the next three to six months following your surgery, your implants will naturally integrate with the jawbone. Once the healing process is complete, we’ll attach small metal connector pieces atop the implants, called abutments.
- Restoration Attachment: Finally, our team will attach your customized dental restoration to your abutments to complete your smile.
Benefits of Dental Implants
Dental implants have a variety of benefits to offer that can be life-changing for patients, including a longevity of 35+ years and a natural look and feel. Going from having gaps in your smile to having a completely functional and full set of teeth can also have advantages for your psychological health. With countless advantages to offer, dental implants have quickly risen to become the gold standard for tooth replacement. Here are just some of the numerous benefits you can experience when you opt for dental implants.
Day-to-Day Benefits
As soon as your dental implants have completely fused to the jawbone and your gum tissue has healed, they should feel just like your natural teeth do. You can do pretty much anything you did before you lost your teeth. Here are some of the great benefits that you can experience every single day:
- Easy Maintenance: Caring for dental implants doesn’t require anything special. You just take care of them as if they were your natural teeth. Brush twice, floss, and rinse with mouthwash every day. Remember to keep up with your regular cleanings and checkups.
- Improved Bite Force: You can restore your bite force up to 90% with dental implants! This is much more than you can achieve with dentures or dental bridges.
- Increases Confidence: Confidence translates to every area of your life. By replacing your missing teeth with dental implants, you can show off your pearly whites with pride.
Health Benefits
Dental implants have a positive influence on your health. Here are just some of the ways that your entire body can benefit from this procedure:
- Better Oral Health: Missing your teeth encourages other dental problems to arise. This can include misalignment, gum disease, infection, and additional tooth loss.
- Improved General Health: Your oral health and general health are very closely related. By keeping up a healthy smile, you can reduce your risk of life-threatening health problems, like diabetes and heart disease.
- Strong Jawbone: When you lose teeth, you will eventually suffer from jawbone resorption. Implants keep your jawbone stimulated while you chew, keeping it both strong and healthy.
Long-Term Benefits
Dental implants are an investment in your future! Many patients benefit from them for the rest of their life. Here are some of the benefits you can experience for many years down the road:
- Long Life: Dental implants are intended to be a permanent solution to tooth loss. You can enjoy their benefits for many years down the road.
- Successful: The success rate of dental implants is over 95%! You are very unlikely to experience a dental implant failure.
- Financial Benefits: You don’t need to stock up on adhesives or soaking solutions with dental implants. You also don’t have to worry about routine repairs and replacements. Dental implants last a long time, so you can save tons of money.
Who Dental Implants Can Help
Dental implants can help a variety of patients, including those missing any number of teeth. Those who have been missing teeth for a longer period of time may require advanced preparatory procedures before being able to undergo dental implant surgery. Based on our initial consultation, our team will recommend one or more of the following pathways to restore your smile.
Missing One Tooth
To replace a single missing tooth, Dr. Almasri will secure one dental implant below the gums and into the jawbone. Once it has fused with the bone, we’ll attach an abutment to the implant, which will hold a free-standing dental crown that will fill the gap in your arch.
Missing Multiple Teeth
Unlike traditional dental bridges that require the alteration of your surrounding healthy teeth to be secured to the mouth, implant bridges are anchored to dental implants. This makes the process less invasive and ensures that the lifespan of the restoration isn’t reliant on your existing teeth.
Missing All of Your Teeth
Dr. Almasri offers traditional and All-on-4 implant dentures to replace an entire row of missing teeth. Depending on your needs, your denture can be attached to anywhere from four to eight dental implants placed throughout your arch. Because they’ll have a strong and unwavering foundation that they’ll be attached to, you won’t have to worry about your dentures slipping or shifting.
Understanding the Cost of Dental Implants
If you’ve done any amount of research on tooth replacement options, you’re probably aware that dental implants entail the highest upfront cost among them. While there are very good reasons for this—a mix of the high-quality materials and the surgery, among other factors—it still leads some patients to wonder whether the benefits of dental implants are worth the increased cost.
We understand that finances can be a sticky subject, so we will take the time to make sure that you have the resources necessary to get the care that you need. If you want to know more about why dental implants cost what they do, and how you can make them fit your budget, here’s some information that may be able to help you.
Preliminary Treatments & Dental Implant Surgery
When considering the overall cost of dental implants, there are elements beyond the implant itself that will contribute to their price. For one, there are often preliminary procedures that need to be completed in order to prepare you for dental implants, like bone grafts or tooth extractions.
Then there’s the cost of the surgery. We have a board-certified periodontist on staff, which means that you’re less likely to need the intervention of an outside specialist. Fortunately, this should bring down the overall cost. However, if you do need to see someone outside our office, they’ll likely have their own rates that you’ll need to talk to them about.
The Parts of Your Dental Implant
Then, of course, there are the costs incurred by the dental implants themselves. There are several factors to consider here as well:
- The number of dental implants you’re getting.
- The restoration that is being applied to your dental implant. Dental crowns are less expensive than bridges, which are in turn more affordable than dentures.
- The materials being used for the implant.
- The brand of dental implant you’re getting.
That all may sound complicated, but don’t worry—we’ll talk you through each of these elements and help you make a decision on them.
How Dental Implants Pay for Themselves
It can sometimes be hard to convince patients of the fact that dental implants are worth what they cost, especially considering how wonderful modern bridges and dentures are. However, if you’re looking for the best of the best, dental implants are still worth what they cost.
In fact, there’s a strong argument to be made that dental implants could save you money in the long run. While you can easily get ten or fifteen years out of dentures or bridges, dental implants make that look like child’s play. The average dental implant will last for over 20 years, and many of them will stay in place for a lifetime if you take care of them well. That being the case, dental implants could help you save money on replacements in the long run.
Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?
Unfortunately, it’s rare for dental insurance to cover dental implants. However, this isn’t a certainty, which means it’s still usually worth checking with your dental plan. They may even cover a portion of your restoration, even if they don’t pay for the surgery itself. We’ll consult with your insurance company in order to make sure that you’re taking full advantage of your benefits.
Making Dental Implants Affordable
Given that dental implants aren’t likely to be covered by insurance, you might want to pursue alternative methods of funding the procedure. Thankfully, we often work with Cherry, a financing firm that can allow you to get care now, then pay later. The process is fast, and many of their financing plans include 0% APR.
If you are missing teeth, you don’t need to just live with the gap. We’ll work with you to put dental implants in your reach, and to ensure that they fit into your budget.