Dental Implants

If you’ve lost one or more permanent teeth because of trauma or extraction, consider dental implants. Dental implants integrate with your jaw, providing a foundation for crowns, bridges, or implant-retained dentures. At his self-titled practice, general and family dentist Jason Ray, DDS, and the team restore dental implants. After an oral surgeon places them, Dr. Ray can design and manufacture custom restorations that rehabilitate your smile and improve your oral health. To make an appointment, call the office in Santa Monica, California, or book online today.

What are dental implants?

Dental implants replace your tooth roots. An oral surgeon inserts them into your tooth sockets during an outpatient procedure. Afterward, the implants fuse with your jawbone, providing a base for dental restorations, like crowns, bridges, or implant-retained dentures.

Dr. Ray isn’t an implantologist, but he does restore dental implants. If you’re interested in getting dental implants, Dr. Ray and the team can coordinate the placement procedure with a nearby dental surgeon. Then, once your mouth heals, they can design and manufacture custom restorations.

What are the benefits of dental implants?

Dental implants offer many benefits, including:

• Improved oral health
• Clearer speech
• Easier biting and chewing
• Confidence
• Reduced risk of bone loss

Dental implants are also convenient. You don’t need to remove or soak them like dentures. 

Who is a candidate for dental implants?

To get dental implants, you need to have enough bone to support them. You also need to have healthy gums. If Dr. Ray and the team determine that you have gum disease or low bone volume, they might recommend a prerequisite treatment, like scaling and root planing, oral antibiotics, or a bone graft.

What is the process for getting dental implants?

Getting dental implants takes several visits.

First dental implants visit

If Dr. Ray and the team determine you’re a candidate for implants, they refer you to a nearby dental surgeon. The surgeon places your implants during an outpatient procedure. 

After the implant placement procedure, your mouth heals for several months. During that time, the posts fuse with your jaw bone.

Second dental implants visit

After the implants finish integrating with your jaw, you visit Dr. Ray and the team. Dr. Ray takes digital scans of your mouth and sends them to a dental lab. The lab uses your scans to design and manufacture custom restorations, like crowns, bridges, or dentures.

If you only need a single crown, Dr. Ray might use the onsite CEREC milling machine and craft them during the same visit.

Third dental implants visit

When the dental lab finishes your crowns, bridges, or implant-supported dentures, you visit Dr. Ray for the last time. Dr. Ray attaches the restorations to your implants and explains how to clean and care for them.

To explore the benefits of dental implants, make an appointment at the practice of Jason Ray, DDS, by calling the office or booking online today.