Mini dental implants differ greatly from standard dental implants, and the purpose these mini implants serve is to stabilize dentures and help to keep them in place more securely. With a traditional dental implant, a titanium post is placed in the space left by a missing tooth root within the jaw, and a crown is attached to create a brand new tooth. With a standard implant, the crown placed at the end of the post is not removable, and the implant is meant to be used just like a natural tooth, however a mini implant serves an entirely different purpose.
Those who wear dentures often experience a certain level of awareness regarding their smile and if their dentures are properly in place. Chewing certain foods or talking can be something of a generator of stress for denture wearers as their teeth may move or fall out altogether while going about their day to day activities. Mini implants provide a way for denture wearers to gain more confidence in their smile and their teeth, as the posts are made to hold the dentures in place no matter what the wearer may choose to eat, say, or do.
The miniature titanium posts used in mini implants are much smaller than those used in traditional implants, and typically four separate posts are placed in upper, lower, or both jaws in order to anchor the dentures. The placing of these posts is a painless procedure that involves screwing the post into the already open space left by the original tooth root in the jaw bone, and patients will be numbed during this process using a local anesthetic. Once the posts are placed, a dentist will then adjust the dentures to be able to snap easily onto the post, providing a more stable and comfortable denture experience. The placing of the posts and adjustment of the dentures will often take only a couple of hours, and patients will typically be able to return to work or other activities after a mini dental implant procedure is performed.
At Shine Dental Associates, we know how important it is to have well-fitting and secure dentures, and we provide mini dental implant procedures to our patients to aid them in achieving just that. If you feel like your situation can be helped with a mini dental implant procedure, contact us today to see if this is the right fit for you!
