Dental Implants – White Plains, NY

Initial Dental Implant Consultation

During the initial consultation, our team will thoroughly examine your mouth and speak with you about your smile goals and medical history. This is meant to not only understand your needs but also confirm if you can receive dental implants in your current state. We’ll work together to determine whether dental implants are right for you before creating a customized treatment plan to walk you through. In certain cases, you may need to receive preparatory treatments like bone grafting, tooth extraction, gum disease therapy or another service if necessary.

Dental Implant Surgery

We partner with local, expert oral surgeons and periodontists for the surgical part of this treatment to achieve the best results. Before your surgery begins, your specialist will explain what will occur step by step so you feel as comfortable as possible. After dressing your mouth for surgery and administering local anesthetic to remove any sensations felt during treatment, an incision will be made in the gums and a small hole will be created in the jawbone so the implant can be attached. Once placed, the gum tissue will be stitched closed so your mouth can heal. We’ll break down all aftercare instructions with you before you leave.

Dental Implant Osseointegration & Abutment

The implants will fuse with the jawbone after placement, which typically takes between four and six months. This process is known as osseointegration and is essential to the longevity and security of your tooth replacement. After the implant has healed fully with your jaw, we’ll place small, metal connector pieces called abutments on the implants. These provide additional foundation for your restoration, whether it’s a crown, bridge, or denture. Over the next couple of weeks, your gum tissue will heal around the abutment. Once fully healed, you’ll come back to our office to receive your restoration.

Delivery of Dental Implant Restoration(s)

At your final appointment, we’ll be able to provide your permanent restoration and make your smile complete. This restoration is designed to not only blend in with your neighboring teeth (if you have them) but feel like a natural part of your smile. We’ll be prepared to make any adjustments to your restorations if needed to ensure your bite remains even. We’ll also go over tips to take care of your dental implants and ensure they stay healthy and functional for many decades.

Day-to-Day Benefits

• Smile confidently: Your dental implants will be specifically designed to look and feel like your natural pearly whites. This means you won’t ever expect them to accidentally slip or fall out while eating or talking. The restorations themselves will also be made of durable and tooth-colored material like porcelain, so they’ll blend seamlessly with the rest of your smile.
• Eat comfortably: Many patients who wear dental bridges or dentures sometimes hesitate to munch on meals like apples, steak, and corn on the cob. Unlike these restorations which offer 25-30% of your chewing power, dental implants can return 80% or more of your biting force. You’ll be able to eat all kinds of foods with no worries!
• Enjoy your favorite drinks: Some people avoid drinking stain-causing beverages such as red wine or coffee with their restorations. They may even need to watch out for hot beverages to prevent warping their replacement teeth. With dental implants, you won’t have to think much about discoloration or damage from certain temperatures or dark-colored liquids.

Health Benefits

• Maintain your jawbone & youthful appearance: On top of replacing your missing teeth, dental implants will also serve as your new permanent roots. This will stimulate blood flow into your jawbone, preserving its strength and structure while preventing an aged appearance and further tooth loss.
• No tooth sensitivity or gum irritation: Dental bridges require a small amount of tooth enamel removal to some of your remaining pearly whites. This will weaken them and often leads to sensitivity. Dentures can typically irritate the gums and cause jaw soreness once they lose their fit. On the other hand, dental implants will be directly anchored to your jawbone and act like your natural teeth, avoiding these issues altogether.
• Preserves a healthy smile & body: By being easy to regularly clean, this restoration treatment can improve your chances of keeping tooth decay and gum disease at bay. Additionally, those who have a full smile at 65 are less likely to struggle with diabetes, osteoporosis, and heart disease.

Long-Term Benefits

• Long-lasting & reliable solution: Even 10 years after placement, dental implants have a success rate of 95% and over. By practicing proper oral hygiene, you can expect to enjoy your fully restored smile for a lifetime!
• Save money & time on your teeth: Although this treatment has a higher initial cost compared to other restoration options, it can save you from additional costly replacements, repairs, cleaning products, and dental appointments in the long run.
• Longer lifespan: Recent studies have found that people with 20 or more of their teeth at 70 years old have increased longevity compared to those with less than 20 teeth at 70. By restoring your smile with dental implants, you’ll have a higher chance of living longer.

Preliminary Treatments & Dental Implant Surgery

As previously mentioned, the cost of each dental implant treatment varies based on a variety of factors. A few important ones that our White Plains dentist will review at your consultation include how many missing teeth you have, how many dental implants need to be placed, and whether you require any preparatory procedures. Of course, the surgery itself will incur a cost of its own. Again, we’ll thoroughly review all these factors with you and draw up an estimated cost for your procedure well beforehand. That way, you feel confident moving onto the next phase of treatment.

The Parts of Your Dental Implant

In addition to the preliminary treatments and the surgery itself, there is another factor that will impact the cost: the parts of your dental implant. Here’s a quick breakdown:

• The number of dental implants – Naturally, replacing an entire arch of teeth comes with a higher upfront cost compared to replacing a single missing tooth.
• The type of restoration – Crowns, bridges, and dentures are three restorations that can replace the visible portion of your missing tooth/teeth. Again, each incurs its own cost, which needs to be considered when creating your price estimate.
• The size and material – There are several different materials to choose from, including zirconia and titanium. Plus, the size of the dental implant will vary depending on where it’s being placed in your mouth.
• The brand of dental implant – In short, different manufacturers have different prices, just like cars or cell phones. If you want to learn more about what our White Plains implant dentist recommends, don’t hesitate to ask!

How Dental Implants Can Save You Money

It’s true; dental implants come with a higher upfront cost than other solutions, like traditional dentures. However, it’s important to remember that they also come with several noteworthy benefits. Furthermore, many of those benefits directly impact your wallet! To start, dental implants can last for over three decades with proper care while traditional dentures need to be replaced every 5-7 years. Additionally, dental implants are the only tooth-replacement option that can stimulate your jawbone, preserving your youthful face shape. Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, dental implants allow you to eat a well-balanced, varied diet that’s packed with nutrient-dense foods, improving your overall health in the short and long term.

Does My Dental Insurance Cover Dental Implants?

That depends on your benefits! After all, dental plans vary from patient to patient. With that said, many cover at least a portion of the cost. For example, you may have benefits that can help lower the out-of-pocket expenses of your preliminary treatments, like gum disease therapy. You may also be able to use your coverage toward the restoration itself (i.e., crown, bridge, denture). If you are unfamiliar with your benefits, don’t hesitate to let us know. While we aren’t in-network, we can still help you utilize your available coverage to save.

Making Dental Implants Affordable

Don’t have dental insurance? That’s okay – we also happily accept flexible financing through CareCredit. Essentially, this trusted third-party financing company allows you to space-out your payments so you don’t have to pay it all in one lump sum. In other words, you’ll be able to choose a low-to-no interest plan that ensures your treatment will fit into your monthly budget stress-free.

Make Oral Hygiene a Priority

Are you brushing twice a day for two minutes each time? Are you flossing every night before bed? If not, you could be putting your implants in peril. Although implants can’t decay, any natural teeth you have left still can, and that risk increases if you don’t remove plaque buildup with brushing and flossing. Plus, dental implants in White Plains can fail as a result of gum disease, which can also be caused by poor oral hygiene. On the bright side, daily dental implant maintenance is as easy as brushing and flossing like natural teeth; unlike dentures, they don’t require a time-consuming routine.

Eat a Healthy Diet

With dental implants, you can chew practically any food you would like, but it’s still important to maintain a nutritious diet. Indulging in a bowl of ice cream or a bag of potato chips every now and then is fine, but eating too many sugary or starchy foods will increase the buildup of harmful plaque in your mouth. To keep your implants healthy, make sure to eat a wide range of fruits, vegetables (especially leafy greens), dairy products, and lean proteins.

Break Bad Habits

Almost everyone has an unhealthy habit that can be hard to break, but some of them can spell disaster for your dental implants. Smoking is one of the worst offenders; tobacco can double your risk of gum disease and dental implant failure. Other harmful habits, like nail-biting, chewing on ice cubes, and using your teeth as tools can all too easily break your implant restorations as well as your natural teeth. Feel free to ask your implant dentist in White Plains for assistance if you’ve struggled to quit any of these habits.

Protect Your Dental Implants

Mouthguards are another important thing to ask your dentist about. These custom-fit oral appliance fit snugly over the teeth to protect against damage. Nightguards are worn to bed to shield the teeth from chronic wear and tear caused by grinding, while athletic mouthguards are worn during sporting events to cushion the blow of an impact to the face. In either case, wearing a mouthguard will keep your implants – and your smile as a whole – safe from harm, whether you’re slumbering or giving it your all on the field.

Schedule Regular Dental Checkups

Prevention is the key to a healthy smile, no matter how many of your teeth have been replaced with dental implants. With a dental checkup and cleaning every six months, our Maple Dental team can examine your teeth, gums, and implants for signs of infection, decay, or damage. When we’re able to catch these issues early on, we can often treat them before they result in serious harm. In this way, routine checkups are also able to save you time and money by preventing the need for more extensive procedures!