One of the key benefits of dental implants is that they have the potential to last forever. Once an implant successfully integrates into your jawbone, there’s no reason to believe it won’t last 20, 30, even 50 years or more with proper care.
Unfortunately, the same is not always true of the dental crown or bridge that’s on top of your dental implant. These can also be long-lasting, but we expect a lifetime of about 10-15 years on the crown itself. Which means that you could be replacing the dental crown on your implant two or three times over the course of its lifetime. This can pose potential challenges, as it might mean you need a new implant dentist to do the replacement. Whether your implant dentist retired or you moved since you had your implant placed, you want to take care in finding the right dentist to replace the crown on your dental implant.
Here are three things to look for in your new implant dentist.
Experience Matters
When choosing a new dentist to replace your dental crowns, look for one with considerable experience in dental implants. This can help you in several ways.
First, it’s more likely that the dentist has seen this particular implant system before. Implant systems are constantly developing, like other dental technologies, and dentists who are familiar only with recent systems might not be able to recognize the old system.
Second, an experienced dentist understands the way dental implants were done “back in the day,” and won’t make unfounded assumptions based on the way implants are done now.
Finally, an experienced dentist has seen many different situations in which dental crowns have failed. They are more likely to be able to respond properly to the specific circumstances of your dental implant.
Designing a New Solution
You also want to make sure your new dentist is prepared to place new dental implants if necessary. While dental implants themselves don’t harm surrounding teeth, it’s not a surprise if your other teeth might be failing ten years or more after the first one. If this is the case, you want to make sure your dentist will be able to design a tooth replacement solution that integrates your old dental implant as well as one or more new ones to make sure your smile is as beautiful as you want it to be.
In-House Crowns Are a Plus
Another benefit to look for is the ability to make dental crowns at their office rather than sends them off to a dental lab. When placing new implants, it’s easy to control many variables to make construction of a dental crown simple. But with replacement crowns, your dentist will have to work around the implant as it is, which can make for a complicated case that might be hard to communicate with a dental lab. But when a dentist can make a crown in-house, as with a CAD/CAM system like CEREC, they can control every aspect of the crown, dealing with the complexities themselves.
Plus, CEREC can save you time: you won’t have to wait an extra week or two for the dental lab to make a new replacement crown–you get it during the same appointment. That means you don’t have to walk around with a less-than-perfect smile past that appointment.
An Experience Implant Dentist in Rockland County
If you are looking to replace a dental crown on an implant for cosmetic or functional purposes, please call (845) 627-7645 today for an appointment with Rockland County implant dentist Dr. Mark Dunayer at B&D Dental Excellence. He has the experience, skill, and technology to achieve the beautiful replacement you are looking for.
