Most dental implant procedures are carefully planned. We might know weeks, even months in advance that we are planning your procedure, so we can have everything carefully planned to ensure you leave our office with a full set of beautiful teeth.
But what about when you realize that you need to have one or more teeth replaced, and it has to be soon. Can you still get dental implants? In most cases, yes, and you can even leave with a full smile.
Avoiding Dental Emergencies
It’s important to start by pointing out that most dental emergencies don’t have to happen at all. With careful monitoring of your oral health and a proactive approach that doesn’t just respond to problems, but anticipates and works to prevent them, most dental emergencies can be avoided.
But that doesn’t mean they will be, especially if you’ve been working with a dentist who practices reactive dentistry. When you come in our office with a dental emergency, we start where you are and plan for the future–we don’t worry about the past.
Causes of Dental Emergencies
There are many reasons why people suddenly find they need to replace their teeth. Tooth decay leading to an infected tooth can mean the tooth just can’t be restored and is best replaced with a dental implant with a low risk procedure. Tooth trauma can damage a tooth so badly that restoring the tooth is unlikely to give good results. And gum disease can significantly damage the gums and bone around teeth so that teeth are no longer supported and have to be removed.
The cause of your dental emergency will determine how well we are able to replace the missing tooth or teeth.
Can You Get Dental Implants
When you come in with a dental emergency, we will carefully evaluate the state of your teeth to determine whether you can get dental implants. The most important issue is the state of your bones and your overall oral health. Gum disease is the cause that is most likely to prevent you from getting dental implants today. It’s likely that the bones around the teeth are damaged by the infection. In addition, there may be significant infection elsewhere in the mouth that can lead to infection around the implants. That can lead to failed implants. So, with gum disease, we may have to postpone your dental implants until we can give your mouth a clean bill of health.
With dental trauma, the bone might be damaged, but in many cases it’s just the teeth. If the bone hasn’t been damaged, or if bone damage is minor, we can place dental implants today.
If it’s an infected tooth or teeth, we are usually able to place dental implants today. We’ll evaluate teeth and see if they’re good candidates for root canals, but, if not, we’ll see if dental implants will serve. If infection is confined to the teeth, then dental implants are definitely a good option.
We Handle Dental Emergencies
If you are facing the loss of one or more teeth and you want to see if you can get dental implants in Rancho Mirage today, please call (760) 832-7915 for an appointment with Dr. Rod Strober at Country Club Dentistry.
