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The Anatomy of a Dental Implant

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Dental concept. Tooth Implant on a white background

If you take a look to the right, you’ll notice a breakdown of the pieces that make up a dental implant. By looking at the overall shape of the implant, you may notice that it looks pretty familiar, right? That is because dental implants are modeled after our natural teeth, with each piece used to replicate a part of a natural tooth. After all, why fix something that isn’t broken? The structure of dental implants helps allow them to be accepted by your body as natural replacements for your missing teeth. Today, Dr. Donian Shen is blogging from Mountain View, CA to talk about the pieces that make up a dental implant.

The Parts of a Dental Implant

While there are some dental implants that come in only two pieces, the most common form of dental implant used is made up of three. These three pieces include:

The Implant Fixture

The implant fixture provides the base of the entire dental implant. During the procedure, this piece is placed in the empty space left behind by your missing tooth. While healing, a process called osseointegration occurs, which allows the implant fixture to be accepted by your jawbone and gums as a natural piece of your oral anatomy. This process is only possible because dental implants are made from titanium, which is a metal that your body does not recognize as unnatural.

The Abutment

The abutment is the second piece of the dental implant to be placed, and it serves to connect the replacement crown to the implant fixture. While it can be possible to have the abutment attached directly after the implant procedure, it is more common to wait until after the recovery period before receiving your abutment. Much like the implant fixture, the abutment is also typically made from titanium.

The Replacement Crown

The final part of the dental implant to be attached is the replacement crown. What sets our crowns apart from others is that we custom make our crowns for each patient based on impressions we take of their remaining natural teeth. By doing so, we are able to provide our patients with realistic looking replacement teeth that fit in perfectly among their natural teeth. In fact, our replacement crowns look so good that, once they are in place, no one will even be able to tell the difference between your artificial and natural teeth.

Call and Schedule a Consultation with Dr. Shen

As you can see, each piece of a dental implant works together with the others to provide our patients with the best possible treatment for missing teeth. Only dental implants provide permanent replacement teeth that function and feel just like natural teeth. If you would like to learn more about the pieces that make up a dental implant and how they work together to benefit you, we encourage you to contact us and schedule a no-obligation consultation with dental implant provider, Dr. Donian Shen, today. We look forward to assisting you on your journey to a beautiful, restored smile soon!