Getting an implant when the periodontist and the oral surgeon are down the hall

A missing tooth is more common than people expect, from an extraction years ago, an accident, or a tooth that finally had to come out. A dental implant, an artificial root that a crown or denture attaches to, is one of the more durable ways to replace it. What often surprises people is how much of the process changes when the specialists doing the surgical part are in the same building as the dentist who has been seeing you all along.

Who actually places the implant

At Connecticut Dental Group, implants are placed by either Dr. Fara Vossughi, a periodontist with a Master of Science in periodontics from Columbia, or Dr. Wladimir Gedeon, an oral surgeon trained at Columbia's dental school. Both specialize in exactly this kind of surgical placement, which is a different skill set from the restorative work of a general dentist, and both work out of the same Main Street office where your records, your X-rays and your general dentist already are.

Why that matters day to day

The practical difference shows up in small ways that add up. A referral to an outside periodontist usually means a new patient intake, a new set of X-rays taken from scratch, and a specialist who has never seen your mouth before starting cold. Here, the panoramic X-ray already on file gets used by everyone involved, the front desk already has your insurance on record, and follow-up visits after the surgery happen with a team that has been coordinating with each other the whole time rather than trading faxes between two separate offices.

• Consultation and imaging with the placing specialist
• Implant placement, using the 3i or Straumann system depending on the case
• A healing period while the implant integrates with the jawbone
• Restoration: a crown, or for multiple missing teeth, a bridge or denture attached to the implants

What an implant actually is

An implant itself is a small post, typically titanium, that is placed directly into the jawbone where a tooth root used to be. Over a healing period, the bone gradually fuses to the surface of the post, a process called osseointegration, which is what gives an implant its stability compared with a bridge or a removable denture. Connecticut Dental Group uses the 3i and Straumann implant systems, both long-established manufacturers in implant dentistry. Once that fusion has progressed enough, a crown, bridge or denture attaches on top, and that final restoration is typically handled by the general dentist, closing the loop between the surgical side and the everyday side of the practice.

Full-arch and multiple-tooth options

Implants are not only for a single missing tooth. For someone missing most or all of the teeth in a jaw, the practice offers All-on-4 and All-on-6 systems, where a full permanent bridge attaches to just four or six implants rather than one per tooth. There is also an implant-retained denture option, which snaps onto a smaller number of implants and gives a denture far more stability than one that simply rests on the gums. Which approach makes sense depends on bone density, how many teeth are missing, and where, which is exactly the kind of judgment call that benefits from a periodontist and a restorative dentist looking at the same case together rather than separately.

What the first appointment looks like

The process starts with an exam and imaging to check bone density and plan exactly where the implant will sit. From there, the specialist will walk through what your specific case involves, including timeline, before anything is scheduled. Healing time varies by patient and by how many implants are involved, so it is not something to guess at from a general answer online. It is worth asking directly at the consultation what your own healing period is likely to look like, and worth a separate call to your insurance provider beforehand to ask what portion of implant treatment your specific plan covers, since that varies a great deal from one plan to the next.

If you have been missing a tooth for a while, or a denture has never quite fit the way you hoped, it is worth a conversation. Connecticut Dental Group is at 4699 Main Street, Suite 203, in the Commerce Park Professional Center, close to Exit 48 of the Merritt Parkway. Call the office to set up a consultation with Dr. Vossughi or Dr. Gedeon.