You might feel a bit frustrated if you had a tooth pulled recently. After all, the new gap in your smile likely doesn’t look good — to you or others. That said, you’re probably eager for a dental implant to replace the missing tooth. Still, you’ll need to wait at least a little bit for your eventual restoration. As for the wait time, your Hutchinson dentist is here with the answer. Read on to learn how soon you can get dental implants after tooth extraction.
How Soon Can I Get an Implant Post-Extraction?
As you can imagine, tooth extraction is a major oral surgery. Your mouth will need time to heal before it can handle an implant placement. In fact, it’s best to wait a minimum of ten weeks post-extraction before starting the follow-up treatment. That way, you and your dentist can ensure the implants will likely succeed.
Granted, there are exceptions. Depending on their oral health, some patients can have a dental implant placed at the same time as the extraction. Whether you’d qualify for that choice, though, can only be decided by a dentist. It’s impossible to decide on your own if you’re a candidate for immediate dental implants. If you’ve had recent oral problems, you’re much more likely to need the standard ten weeks for dental implant surgery.
The Benefits of Dental Implants
However long you need to wait, you can trust that an implant will do you good. Besides filling the space in your smile, it’ll offer the following benefits:
- High Success: Most dental implants successfully bond with patients’ jawbones. For that reason, their success rate stands at 95%!
- Lifelikeness: Compared to dentures or bridges, implants look and feel more like natural teeth. For one thing, their porcelain blends seamlessly with your smile. Plus, fusing with your jaw ensures they restore your chewing ability.
- A Youthful Face: Because implants fill the socket left by missing teeth, they stimulate your jaw to produce and preserve bone tissue. This effect, in turn, keeps your face looking full and youthful!
- Long Lifespan: Unlike other restorations, implants don’t need replacement every few years. Rather, their lifespan can reach fifteen to twenty years when they’re well-maintained.
As you can see, it pays to be careful when getting dental implants after tooth extraction. When you are, your prosthetic tooth (or teeth) will work all the better.
About the Author
Dr. Grant Ringler is a dentist based in Hutchinson, KS, having earned his DDS from the University of Nebraska. He’s also a member of the American Dental Association and the Kansas Dental Association. Thanks to his prior and ongoing education, his specialties are preventive, cosmetic, and restorative dentistry, including emergency care. Dr. Ringler currently practices at his self-titled clinic and is reachable on his website or by phone at (620)-708-4045.