The Dental Implant Process: What Houston Patients Can Expect From Start to Finish

Some decades ago, many people with missing teeth had to settle for removable dentures. Not anymore. Dental implants have completely revolutionized modern dentistry, offering a fixed and long-term solution for tooth loss.

Nowadays, many patients in Houston prefer dental implants if they have a missing tooth, but they don’t know what to expect. Don’t worry; our team at New Smiles Dental Implant Center has you covered. Here’s what you can generally expect at each stage of treatment.

Step 1: Consultation and Oral Exam

You start with a free one-on-one consultation with our dental implant specialist, Dr. Hwang. We listen to your concerns first. Don’t hesitate to discuss the issues you’ve been having from tooth loss or a badly damaged tooth.

Then we start with a detailed exam. This includes a clinical evaluation as well as digital X-rays and a 3D CBCT scan of your mouth.

We also review your dental and medical history. There will be a few questions about your lifestyle habits, such as smoking. These assessments help us decide whether implants are really your best option.

Step 2: Treatment Planning

Dr. Hwang gives you the full picture before making a final treatment plan. How many implants you need, how long the procedure will take, the cost, and recovery; we talk about everything. We always make all our patients a major part of their treatment planning.

Once everything is finalized, next comes your implant surgery. Our dental implant specialist digitally plans every detail using your 3D scans. This means no guesswork. The positioning, angle, depth – everything is mapped out before your surgery even begins.

Step 3: Implant Placement

This is the most important step. We place the titanium implant post in your jawbone under local anesthesia. Candidates with solid bone thickness don’t usually need any extra steps. But even if you have bone loss, there’s still a way.

Dr. Hwang specializes in immediate implant placement with same-day bone grafting. That means fewer visits to our office and achieving the best results much faster.

Many of our patients in Houston describe the surgery process as more comfortable than they expected.

Step 4: Healing Phase

The jawbone grows around the implant post over the next 3 to 6 months. The medical term for this process is osseointegration. Proper healing during this phase is very crucial for your implant success, because this is exactly what gives the dental implants their long-term strength and natural feel.

We’ll be there for you throughout and schedule follow-up visits to check how well the implant is healing.

Step 5: Abutment and Final Restoration

When the implant has bonded with the bone and tissue around it, we place an abutment. It’s a small connecting piece. After about 2 to 6 weeks, your final restoration (either a single crown, bridge, or full-arch denture) is secured.

Our team will guide you on everything about implant aftercare. We want you to get the maximum benefits of your treatment!

Final Words

We hope that this blog helped you out. Now that you have a good idea about what happens during the dental implant process, you can be well-prepared.

If you’re thinking of getting a dental implant, get started with a free consultation at New Smiles Dental Implant Center today. Call us at (832) 770-7777 (Bellaire office) or (832) 702-7101 (Galleria office) to book an appointment.