You can lose your tooth at any age, but this shouldn’t make you feel lost or embarrassed. All-ceramic dental implants near me in Castle Rock, Colorado, can eliminate tooth problems like diminished chewing ability, ill-fitting dentures, slurred speech, and ruined aesthetics.
Dental Health and Wellness offers zirconia dental implants as a safer and natural-looking alternative to titanium implants. Expertly placed by Dr. Chris Brady and the team, our metal-free dental implants provide remarkable benefits for your smile and life.
What are zirconia implants?
Since the 1960s, dentists have used titanium for dental implants. Titanium dental implants have a remarkable success rate of over 90%, and the numbers keep improving. If titanium works, why do we need an alternative?
While titanium is popular, it doesn’t mean it’s the best alternative. Titanium is metal; as you’d expect, some patients can react to metal. Furthermore, metal can corrode and even show through the gums, especially for patients with gum recession or thinned-down gum tissues.
Zirconia is an innovative ceramic material created from zirconium. Although zirconium is a metal, it’s converted to zirconium dioxide, becoming a ceramic material, and comes with all the benefits ceramics possess.
What to expect from the dental implant procedure
Want to replace your missing teeth with dental implants? The first step is to schedule an appointment with an experienced implant dentist like Dr. Brady. We’ll examine your oral health and jawbone to determine your implant eligibility. We’ll also understand your concerns and goals to create a personalized treatment plan.
If you qualify for implants—meaning you have a healthy bone and are in good overall health— it’s time for implant surgery. Typically, titanium implants involve at least two components: the implant itself and an abutment that supports the dental prosthetic. In contrast, most zirconia implants use a one-piece design, where the implant fixture and the abutment are integrated into a single unit.
After administering anesthesia, we’ll create a small incision on your gums and bone to place the zirconia implant. Then, we’ll place a healing cover and suture the wound to start the recovery process. We’ll leave the implant for four to six months to fuse with the jawbone through osseointegration.
After healing, the dentist will perform a minor surgery to insert an abutment if your implant isn’t a one-piece design. Otherwise, we’ll take impressions of your implant to design a bespoke dental prosthetic.
The final step is to cover your implant with a natural-looking crown, bridge, and denture. Once we restore your implant, it will look and function like natural teeth.
Benefits of zirconia implants
Zirconia is a material well tolerated by the body, so allergic reactions like itchiness and inflammation are rare. Besides biocompatibility, the other benefits of zirconia implants include:
- Aesthetics: Zirconia has tooth-colored properties, making it a favorable material for creating a natural-looking replacement tooth
- Reduced complexity: The one-piece design simplifies the implantation procedure and eliminates the need for a separate abutment attachment
- Better oral hygiene: Zirconia has a smooth, non-porous surface, making it less susceptible to harmful bacteria and plaque. Reduced affinity to harmful materials reduces the chances of infections and other oral issues
- Strength and durability: Zirconia is one of the strongest materials in dentistry, which is essential for withstanding the forces exerted during chewing and biting
- No corrosion or electrical conductivity: Being non-metal, zirconia is non-corrosive and has no electrical conductivity, improving overall comfort
Request an Appointment
Ready to transform your smile with metal-free implants in Castle Rock, CO? Please call (719) 215-9292 to schedule a consultation with Dental Health and Wellness.
