Dental implants can be used to replace unhealthy teeth or to fill in the gaps where there are any missing teeth. Made from titanium rods, dental implants are root devices that are screwed into the jaw of the mouth, and then fitted with a dental prostheses, whether a crown, a bridge or dentures. But whilst the demand for dental implants is growing, many people are wondering how long these implants take to heal.

Dental implants require osseointegrating with the surrounding bone, a natural process which means there is no way of accurately predicting a recovery time. The implants are know as root-form endosseous implants meaning that to become secure, titanium screw and bone must first fuse together. But generally speaking, the process takes anywhere between six weeks and six months.

Something slightly more measurable is that implants on the upper jaw usually take longer to fuse that implants on the lower jaw. Understandably, most patients are keen to have the use of their implants as soon as possible, but care must be taken to ensure that the rod has fused before the prosthesis is fitted and the tooth is used.

Once the rod has been allowed to fully fuse with the bone, the dentist will then lift the gum and fit a temporary crown. After four to six weeks – once the gum has healed – the patient then returns to get the permanent tooth replacement fitted.

But dental implant technology is getting better the time, and now there are a number of immediate implants also available including ‘teeth in a day’, ‘fast and fixed’ and ‘all-on-four’. These techniques are usually fitted within a day (including both rod and prosthesis) but even so, time and care must still be taken to allow the rod to osseointegrate with the jaw bone just as mentioned above.

Find out more about dental implants.

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