Dental implants are not by any means cheap, but they are by far and away the best solution for missing teeth. For all practical purposes, they act in exactly the same way as your original tooth did, and in some respects are even better because they cannot suffer damage in the same way as a natural tooth.

A dental implant is a post made out of titanium which is inserted into the jawbone just like the root of a tooth. Then a replacement tooth is fitted on top of the post. This is a big improvement over a bridge, because the teeth on either side of the implant are left untouched, whereas with a bridge they have to be cut down to support the bridge, so you actually do damage to two perfectly good teeth.

You can get dental implants in Holborn, and they are just so much better than dentures. Dentures can slip and slide about, you have to take them out at night and put them in a cleaning solution, and while they may look like natural teeth they often don't perform nearly as well. Dental implants, on the other hand, will enable you to eat food that you may not have been able to eat for years, such as nuts, because they perform in the same way that your original tooth did.

Not everyone is suitable for dental implants, although most people are. You need to have sufficient jawbone to hold the implant in place. If your jawbone is too thin or too soft, you may require a bone graft. If it is in the upper jaw and there is insufficient bone height or the sinuses are too close to the jaw, you may need a sinus lift.

The process of obtaining a dental implant takes several months. First, the dental surgeon will need to take X-rays and moulds of the jaw and teeth to ascertain the amount of bone, gum tissue, and spacing available for the implant. Then the implant itself, which is like a screw, is inserted into the jawbone. After this, there is a period of up to six months during which the jawbone grows tightly to the implant in a process known as osseointegration. Depending on the type of implant, a second surgery may be needed in order to attach the post which is going to hold the crown into the implant. In this case, the gum tissue has to be allowed to heal around the post. With other types of implant, the post and anchor are already attached to each other.

Once everything is in place, the dentist will have had the crown made which has the size, shape, and colour that will blend in with your other teeth and it is now time to attach it to the post.

If you are planning to have teeth whitening, you will need to get it done before having dental implants in Holborn because the colour of the finished crown needs to match your other teeth.

Another exciting possibility today is "all on four" implant technology. In the past, people who were missing all, or a lot of their teeth, had no other option than dentures. Not only can dentures slip about when eating, but they also have the effect of hastening deterioration of the jawbone. Dentures can also fall out of your mouth if you laugh out loud, or even cough or sneeze, which can be extremely embarrassing if you are in company.

All on four, or teeth in a day, utilises a minimum of four implants, and possibly five or six, which are inserted into the jawbone, and often angled, so that a bridge replacing all of the teeth on that jawbone can be attached to them. Because the load is shared evenly between the implants, you can have a fully functional working set of teeth in one day.

All on four teeth are more comfortable than traditional dentures and are of course more stable. They virtually stop deterioration of the jawbone and integrity of the facial structures is maintained. Natural biting and chewing capacity is restored, and the roof of the mouth is not covered, so food can be tasted as normal.