How Dental Implants are a Big Part of Your Smile Makeover

Dr. Frawley and the team at Beverly Hills Dentistry are known around the world as specialists in smile makeovers. If you lack confidence in your smile or how it has changed over the years, we can work with you to create your perfect new smile.

Often the first step is to replace missing teeth, whether due to a sports or car accident or because periodontal infection caused them to fall out or become so loose they need to be extracted. It’s a very common problem, with 120 million Americans having lost at least one tooth.

As part of a smile makeover, dental implants are a major solution. To see whether you qualify for this requires a full dental exam, including a digital x-ray (involving minimal radiation), which will show how healthy your jawbone is. If there is less than the ideal amount of bone, you may need a bone graft before an implant can be placed. If you live in another state or country, you can start with a virtual consultation to discuss your oral health and smile makeover goals.

The reason implants help replace lost teeth is because they consist of a titanium (biocompatible type of metal) that is anchored into the socket and becomes fused with the jaw.

This stops the misalignment of teeth that starts when a tooth is missing, since nature causes the neighboring teeth to lean in to “fill the gap.” Soon, they also become loose and the next thing you know, you face a choice of having many implants placed.

Dentures are a poor alternative, since most are removable and do not integrate with the jawbone, which results in the loss of more bone, which is why they have to be adjusted about every five years.

The good news is once the implant has been integrated after a few months, we can create a dental crown or artificial tooth out of dental porcelain on a special machine in our office while you wait, which will be made to match the neighboring teeth. This process encompasses the core value of our cosmetic dentistry experience. No one will ever know that you once had one or more missing teeth and you will be able to speak and chew exactly as before.

Even if you have lost all the teeth on one half of the arch of your lower or upper jaw, an All-on-Four platform can hold eight artificial teeth anchored by just four implants, instead of having to place eight individual implants.

Regardless of your case, we use advanced technology so you can visualize how your smile could look as we plan the next steps in your journey to your personalized smile makeover. Get started today with either a phone or virtual consultation.