Dental Implants

Implants are the closest thing dentistry has to a new tooth. Because the post bonds with your jawbone, an implant restores most of your natural biting strength, keeps the bone in that spot from shrinking, and is brushed and flossed like the tooth it replaced. Outcomes vary from patient to patient, but a well-placed, well-maintained implant routinely serves for decades.

This page explains how implants work, who they fit, why treatment takes months rather than weeks, and what actually drives the cost. All four of our offices offer implant treatment. When you are ready to talk specifics, request an appointment and bring your questions — an exam turns everything below into a plan for your mouth.

The three parts of an implant

The distinction matters for planning: the post is the long-term investment, while the crown is a wear part that can be repaired or replaced years later without disturbing the post underneath.

One missing tooth, several, or a whole arch

A single implant with a crown replaces one tooth. Several missing teeth in a row do not necessarily need one implant each — an implant-supported bridge can span the gap with two posts carrying three or four teeth, which changes both the surgery and the cost.

When most or all of the teeth in a jaw are gone or failing, a full arch can be secured on as few as four implants. That approach has its own page: All-on-4 dental implants.

How long it takes — and why that's normal

Plan on several months from first scan to final crown for most cases. That is not the office being slow — it is bone biology. The titanium post needs months to fuse with the jaw before it can safely carry chewing forces; load it too early and it fails. Cases that start with an extraction or bone grafting add healing time of their own. The step-by-step timeline below shows where the months go — most of them are quiet healing at home, not appointments.

What determines the cost of a dental implant

There is no single implant price, because there is no single implant case. The honest answer is that cost is driven by a handful of knowable factors, and an exam turns them into a real number for you:

• How many teeth you are replacing — and whether each needs its own implant or several can share a bridge
• Whether a failing tooth still needs to be extracted first
• Whether your jaw needs bone grafting or a sinus lift before it can hold a post
• The restoration on top: a single crown, an implant-supported bridge, or a full-arch appliance
• The type of anesthesia or sedation you choose for the placement visit

After an exam you get a written treatment plan that itemizes each of these before anything starts.

Implant vs. bridge vs. denture

An implant is not the only way to replace a tooth — and it is not always the right one. The honest comparison:

• Dental implant — replaces the root as well as the crown, preserves jawbone, and leaves neighboring teeth untouched. Longest-lasting option with good care; highest upfront cost and the longest treatment timeline.
• Dental bridge — faster and initially less expensive, with no surgery. But it requires grinding down the healthy teeth on either side of the gap to serve as anchors, does nothing to stop bone loss under the missing tooth, and typically needs replacement sooner than an implant.
• Removable partial or full denture — the lowest-cost route and sometimes the medically sensible one. Trade-offs: it rests on the gums, can move when you chew, comes out for cleaning, and does not slow bone loss.

Our offices provide all three, so the recommendation you get can be based on your mouth rather than on the one treatment available. Read more about dental bridges and dentures.

What happens if you wait

A missing tooth is not a stable situation. The jawbone that held the root starts to shrink within the first year, because it is no longer stimulated by chewing forces. Neighboring teeth drift into the gap, which changes your bite, and the tooth above or below the space can over-erupt. None of this is an emergency — but each change can make eventual treatment more involved. The most common example: waiting long enough that bone grafting becomes necessary before an implant is possible at all.

If you are not ready for an implant, that is a legitimate choice. Make it with an exam on record, so you know what your bone looks like now and what your actual timeline is — deciding with information beats deciding by default.

Most healthy adults with a missing tooth are candidates — but not all, and honesty here matters more than optimism. You are likely a good candidate if your gums are healthy, your jaw has enough bone to anchor a post, and your general health allows a minor surgical procedure.

Bone loss does not automatically rule you out — but it is the most common consequence of waiting. If the tooth was lost years ago or you have worn a denture a long time, the bone may have shrunk below what an implant needs. Grafting can often rebuild it; that adds months and cost, and in some mouths a bridge or a well-made denture is genuinely the better recommendation.

Some situations need extra planning or argue against implants: uncontrolled diabetes, heavy smoking, untreated gum disease, certain medications that affect bone healing, and a history of radiation treatment in the jaw area. None of these ends the conversation by itself — they are findings your dentist plans around, or reasons to choose a different treatment with your eyes open.

One rule is not negotiable: active gum disease gets treated first, because implants placed into infection fail. See gum disease treatment.