What is Peri-Implantitis?

No matter what your dental history, you’ll get high-quality care at Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs. Implants are a great way of replacing permanent teeth and restoring the stability of a patient’s facial structure. But they need to be kept clean, or else infection might necessitate their removal. We’ll work together with our patients to prevent peri-implantitis, which is inflammation surrounding an implant post.

Gingivitis, the first stage of gum disease, is characterized by redness, soreness, and bleeding. When it happens in the vicinity of an implant, it may be in response to a foreign object, such as leaking dental cement. The patient may also be one of the few people allergic to titanium. But in most cases, peri-implantitis is a hygienic issue. An implant post will be eroded by oral bacteria’s acidic secretions, just like a natural tooth root. Implants are also dependent on being well-integrated into the surrounding jaw bone matrix, and loss of bone tissue or weakening of the post could cause the implant to come loose. In that case, we’d have to remove it.

Patients with implants must be careful to brush and floss thoroughly twice a day. When people maintain their oral hygiene, peri-implantitis is very rare, but when it’s present, it needs to be addressed professionally. We can provide patients with deep cleanings, but they need to schedule an appointment with us if they are concerned about their oral health.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Family Dentistry and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Dental Implants

At Southern Cross Dental our doctors replace teeth and restore patient smiles with dental implants. Implants are a permanent restorative option for teeth that are missing or have been extracted.  They look and feel like natural teeth, and are the most permanent and efficient means of replacing lost teeth.

An implant is placed over a series of appointments because of the healing time required.  Implants are titanium screws inserted through an incision in the gum. Over a period of 3-6 months, the jaw bone heals around the implant to become a solid, stable base for the new tooth. During this time a patient is fitted with a temporary crown, and a custom crown is created to match their smile perfectly.

After the jaw bone and gums have healed appropriately, the custom crown is placed in a second minor procedure.  The doctor may need to expose the head of the implant by removing some gum tissue, and the crown will be screwed to the top of the implant.  When this is complete the tooth looks like part of the natural smile, and with proper care will last for decades!

To learn more about dental implants and all the services provided at the practice, visit www.scdsmile.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with one of our doctors at Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs, CO, call 719-471-1717.

Vertical Dimension Loss

Teeth serve many functions, one of the most underappreciated of which is supplying the face with vertical dimension. Put simply, this means that without teeth, the face shortens, resulting in all sorts of problems. At Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs, our doctors are experienced providers of dental prosthetics and are determined to help patients avoid the horrors of bite collapse.

When teeth are removed, the jaw bone tissue that surrounded their tooth roots recedes. As a result, the face looks shrunken, with the skin between the nose and lip becoming wrinkled and the mouth looking too small for the chin. Besides this aged appearance, patients also develop pain in their jaws which can radiate to their heads and shoulders. The loss of teeth also impacts the function of the remaining ones, since the front teeth are not held in place as firmly as the molars and are unable to take on the pressures of chewing.

If a patient still has some teeth, our dentists can use them to estimate how large to make the replacements. In cases of full-mouth restorations, our dentists will fabricate dentures using the latest software to determine a good fit. As part of the restoration process, patients will wear temporary crowns, which will give us a better idea of whether their new teeth are the right size to restore the shape of their faces.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Family Dentistry and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Diabetes and Implants

At Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs, people with diabetes are able to get the specialized dental care their particular needs require. People with diabetes are more vulnerable to oral infections than other people, which for a long time caused dentists to question their candidacy for implant placement. However, a new study from the American Dental Association found that people with diabetes may be able to receive this kind of treatment.

People with diabetes take longer to recover from wounds. In the past, this caused dentists to be concerned about the surgical incisions which need to be made for implants to be placed. However, the process of integration between the implant post and the jaw bone takes several months, during which the gums should heal if they are cared for properly. People with uncontrolled blood sugar are also prone to gum inflammation and inflammation tends to be associated with implant failure in a process called peri-implantitis. But the study published by the American Dental Association found that people with uncontrolled blood sugar do not actually experience implant failure at a higher rate than the general population. This does not mean that the additional risks presented by diabetes should be ignored, but if the health of the gums is maintained, implants may be a safe option.

Drs. Navid and Faranak Rahimpour operate Southern Cross Dental at 1855 S Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80905-2516. To schedule an appointment, call 719-471-1717 or visit Southern Cross Family Dentistry and fill out a contact sheet.