Dental implants are an increasingly popular way for people who have lost teeth to replace them. At Capital Dental in Hampton, our skilled implantology team have helped many patients who have lost one or more of their natural teeth to replace them with the help of implants.

How treatment works

A dental implant is a small screw, made from titanium and placed directly in your jaw bone in a small operation carried out here at our Hampton dental practice. In most cases, dental implants are placed under local anaesthetic, although treatment under sedation is also an option for nervous patients.

Titanium is used because it has a high degree of compatibility with the human body. It is osteoconductive, which means that it supports bone growth, so your implants will mesh with your bone, helping to keep it healthy and preventing bone resorbtion – a common side-effect of tooth loss that sees your jaw bone shrink back.

Dental implants replace the root portion of a tooth or teeth. Crowns, bridges or dentures are then attached to abutments on top of the implants, restoring the full functionality and aesthetic appearance of natural teeth. In most cases a healing period of approximately three months is required for your implants to mesh fully with your bone, although in some cases immediate implant placement is possible.

For patients requiring a full arch (jaw) of new teeth, it is sometimes possible to fit your new teeth at the same time as your implants. We use the All-on-4 implant system at our Hampton practice, which means that just four implants are required to support a full arch of teeth. The implants are carefully placed and two of them are specifically angled for maximum bone contact. This enables them to withstand the forces generated by biting and chewing food.