Single Dental Implants
Your smile should be worn confidently. But missing a tooth can make you feel self-conscious and hesitant to smile, laugh, and even eat! Fortunately, you don’t have to live with a missing tooth – modern dental technology has made it possible to replace and restore your smile.
Schedule Consultation What Is a Single Tooth Dental Implant?
A single tooth dental implant is one of the most advanced solutions available to help replace a missing tooth without compromising the health of the other teeth around the empty space. This state-of-the-art treatment consists of three components:
- A biocompatible titanium post that creates an artificial tooth root
- A custom abutment that helps connect the implant to the crown
- A beautifully crafted porcelain crown that matches the look and color of your other teeth
Unlike other tooth replacement options – many of which rely on using adjacent teeth for support – a single tooth dental implant can stand independently. While full arch implants replace all teeth in an upper or lower jaw using multiple implants to support a complete set of prosthetic teeth, a single implant targets just one missing tooth.
At Northern Colorado Dental Specialty and Implant Center, our team of dental prosthodontic specialists can help you rebuild a confident smile with professional single tooth replacements that look great and feel even better!
Are you a candidate?
Take our 1-minute quiz below to find out!
Who’s a Good Candidate for a Single Implant?
Are you a candidate for a single dental implant? The process begins with a custom consultation and evaluation by our prosthodontic specialists. Together, we’ll determine if a single dental implant is right for you – or if another option would best fit your needs.
An ideal candidate is one who has lost one or more individual teeth while maintaining overall good oral health. Many come to our office with tooth loss from sports injuries, accidents, severe decay, or an absence due to a congenital factor.
But simply missing a tooth isn’t enough to determine whether you’re a great candidate for a dental implant. Other factors include:
- Sufficient Bone Density: The jaw must have strong bone density to support the installed titanium post.
- Healthy Gums: Your gums must be free of active periodontal disease to reduce the chances of a post-operation infection.
- Positive Overall Health: Your health plays a role in how well your body takes to the implant. Diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and other factors will determine if you are eligible.
- Lifestyle Factors: While age is rarely a limiting factor to single implants, most candidates range from older teenagers to senior adults.
If you’re currently using a removable partial denture or are considering a more permanent alternative to a bridge, you may be a great candidate for single dental implants. Our comprehensive evaluation includes 3D imaging and a detailed health assessment to help us build a treatment plan for long-term success.
Benefits of Single Tooth Implants
Unlike bridges, which require grinding down healthy adjacent teeth for support, implants help preserve your natural tooth structure completely. This means your surrounding teeth stay strong and intact, and maintain their original shape and function for years to come.
As a standalone tooth, your implant can help you chew more naturally, preventing stress from occurring to neighboring teeth from bridges.
From a bone health perspective, implants provide some unique benefits that other alternatives can’t match. The titanium post works in your jaw much like a natural tooth root, helping slow and prevent bone loss that can occur from tooth extraction. This helps to maintain your jaw’s strength and natural appearance.
At Northern Colorado Dental Specialty and Implant Center, we use custom-crafted crowns designed to match your natural teeth in color, translucency, and shape. The result is a smile that looks like and feels like the real thing. Plus, implants require no special maintenance beyond regular brushing and flossing.
The advantages of dental implants are many, and with the right care, a single implant can last a lifetime, making it the most cost-effective long-term solution.
Why Choose a Dental Implant Over a Bridge?
A common question we get is, “Why choose a single dental implant over a bridge?”
Bridges often require an irreversible alteration of the healthy teeth on either side of the gap, as well as removing tooth structure to help support crowns. This process can weaken the surrounding teeth and make them more susceptible to decay and fracture down the road.
Implants help reduce this risk and don’t require the extensive cleaning or replacement that bridges often need. Best of all, your single tooth implant can help prevent bone loss in your jaw – so you can enjoy the same oral health and facial aesthetics for longer.
The Dental Implant Process for a Single Implant
So, what goes into a single dental implant? The process is actually more straightforward than you might expect!
The process begins with a comprehensive consultation at our Fort Collins office. A member of our trained prosthodontic specialist team will perform a detailed 3D imaging of your bone structure to plan out the right implant position.
We invest more time in this step to ensure that the final result is perfect. Together, we’ll walk through what to expect, cover your oral health goals and desires, and create a customized treatment timeline that works with your schedule.
The implant placement procedure is quite comfortable, performed under local anesthesia. We also offer sedation options for patients who may be a bit more anxious about the process.
During the placement procedure, a surgeon will create a small, precise opening in the gum tissue and carefully position the titanium implant into the prepared site in your jawbone. The implant will typically require three to six months to fully heal and integrate with the jawbone, which sets the stage for long-term results.
As you heal, we provide you with an aesthetic temporary solution until the osseointegration is complete. Once your jaw is ready, we’ll attach the custom abutment and take detailed impressions for your permanent crown.
Our on-site dental lab advantage allows us to create and refine your crown to get the color and natural contours just right. During your final appointment, we’ll secure your custom crown to the abutment, make any final adjustments, and you’re done!
Why Choose Northern Colorado Dental Specialty
When you need a beautiful new smile, the Fort Collins Dental Implants team is the right choice! We are the premier choice for dental implants in Fort Collins and we would be honored to serve your dental implant needs. Some of the reasons you should choose us:
- Beautiful Smile in as little as 24 hours
- Personalized Implants for you
- Award-Winning Doctors
- Over 20 years of experience
- Thousands of Happy Dental Implant Clients
- On-Site Lab for the Perfect Fit, Shape and Color
- Third-Party Financing and flexible payment plans
What to Expect
The dental implant process will be guided by our expert team who have completed thousands of these procedures. It is a simple 5-step process:
Consultation
Meet directly with our dental implant specialists and find out everything else you need to know about dental implants. We will address all of your personal questions and concerns. If you are a candidate for a dental implant, we will create an initial treatment plan and timeline for the rest of the process.
Exam and Mouth Impressions
We will run diagnostics, take images of your mouth and teeth, as well as make needed impressions. With this information, we will come up with the optimal treatment plan for your personal situation and schedule your procedure appointments.
Procedure Placing Implant
Remove any teeth (if applicable) and place implant. This is a surgical procedure and can take a few hours depending on several factors.
Abutment Placement
You will need some time to heal and recover after the procedure and it will take a couple weeks to a couple months. Once the implant is healed and integrated into your mouth, we will place an abutment (connector) on top of the implant.
Custom Crown Placement
A custom crown is designed to match your existing teeth color and shape. Once the final crown is approved, we will place it directly on your implants.
Real Results, Real Smiles
Our Patients Say It Best
Our Specialty Dentists
Dr. Justin Liddle, DMD, CDT
Dr. Kirk Harvey, DMD
Healthy Smiles Start Here!
Exceptional care tailored to you. Cutting-edge technology. Supreme comfort. We're transforming dental experiences in the Fort Collins area with pioneering treatments, always prioritizing our patients. Now is the perfect moment to begin crafting your ideal smile. Get in touch with us today to schedule your appointment and take the first step.
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