Losing your teeth is a scary enough thought without considering how it affects your day-to-day lifestyle. Difficulty eating your favorite foods, struggling to speak clearly, and feeling self-conscious can quickly take a toll on your quality of life. However, when you’re missing teeth, you also deal with oral health issues, such as a misaligned bite, jawbone loss, and potential bacterial infection. You could replace your teeth with traditional options like bridges or dentures, but these solutions have some drawbacks. For instance, bridges put excess pressure on healthy teeth, while dentures are known to move around and cause irritation. Luckily, there’s a way to replace missing teeth, enhance oral functionality, and solve all these dental health problems: dental implants. Mini dental implants from the Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Scottsdale, AZ, offer an effective, affordable, and reliable treatment option.
Solutions in Scottsdale: Understanding Dental Implants
Dental implants are titanium screws that we carefully place in your jawbone to provide a strong foundation for artificial teeth. These screws are essentially prosthetic tooth roots. They’re a versatile solution, as they can support bridges, crowns, and dentures. Dental implants are also a great option for stabilizing loose or floating dentures.
Any artificial teeth held firm with dental implants will provide increased chewing power and a more natural look and feel. They also have oral health benefits: replacing your missing tooth roots prevents your other teeth from shifting and stops the jawbone deterioration that happens when we lose our teeth.
Although traditional dental implants have been a dependable choice for tooth replacement, they have several drawbacks. An invasive placement procedure, a lengthy healing process, and a potential bone graft procedure are all roadblocks that come with these large conventional implants. However, mini implants—an innovation in implant technology—have significantly simplified placement, shortened the healing process, and made the entire procedure more cost-effective.
The Advantages of Mini Implants
Mini dental implants are the next evolution in tooth replacement devices. These thinner, single-piece implants measure less than 3 mm wide, allowing Dr. Mann and Dr. Shatkin to place them quickly and without incisions or stitches. They are a viable option for those with smaller jawbones who aren’t good candidates for larger implants. Despite their smaller diameter, they have the same success rate and durability as their larger predecessors, thanks to a streamlined titanium design.
Mini implants boast several compelling advantages:
- Minimally invasive: If you’re nervous about incisions or other invasive surgical techniques, you’ll be happy to know that mini implants only require a small pilot hole. With our efficient technique, we can complete the entire placement in a few minutes. Thanks to a local anesthetic and our experienced dentists, you won’t feel a thing.
- Instant results: Mini implants can be loaded with their final restoration immediately after we place them in your jaw. If your final prosthetic isn’t ready yet, we can also give you temporary teeth to use while you wait. Either way, when you come in for your implant placement, you’ll leave our office with new teeth.
- Faster healing: Traditional implants need 6-8 months, or more, to fully integrate and be ready to support your final restoration. Mini implants are fully fused with the jawbone in 4-6 weeks. After your procedure, most patients only report mild discomfort, which dissipates within 48 hours.
- More affordable: Thanks to their simpler placement, faster healing, and fewer appointments needed, mini implants are more affordable than traditional ones—often costing about half as much.
Exploring the Cost
Mini dental implants generally cut the cost of traditional implants by half. While this opens up new doors for many of our patients, we also recognize that affording treatment can be a concern. Our experienced staff works with many insurance companies and can help you get the most out of your coverage. We also offer various financing options so that you can find a monthly payment that will suit your budget.
Looking for Dental Implants in Scottsdale? Call Today!
If you’re interested in learning more about what mini dental implants can do for you, contact us today to schedule your free consultation. Dr. Shatkin, Dr. Mann, and the experienced team at the Mini Dental Implant Center of America in Scottsdale are eager to discuss this life-changing treatment possibility with you!