Kathryn Kennedy, DDS

Dentist in Westmont, IL

(630) 810-9940

331 W. 63rd St. Westmont, IL 60559

Westmont Dentist | Tooth Replacement & Dental Implants

Dr. Kathryn Kennedy, DDS in Westmont, IL provides comprehensive dental care including dental implants for our patients who may be missing teeth or having loose dentures. This process can help you regain your confidence, your chewing function, and your smile.

SINGLE TOOTH IMPLANTS

Prior to doing a dental implant, Dr. Kennedy will sit down with you and review your x-rays, bone health, medical condition and options when looking to restore your mouth. Single tooth implants are becoming the standard of care these days as people chose to not drill down the adjacent two healthy teeth to put a bridge in its place, especially when it concerns the front teeth.

MULTIPLE TOOTH IMPLANTS

If you are missing more than one tooth, or even an entire arch and aren’t interested in wearing a denture, multiple tooth implants are a great option. Because they support the bone from dissolving away over the years, and because they are considered “permanent”, our patients like having something that will look and feel more like their natural teeth. We have a variety of options available today when it comes to replacing multiple teeth. Dr. Kennedy will be happy to discuss all the pros and cons of each option and alternative.

HOW WOULD I KNOW IF I AM A CANDIDATE FOR DENTAL IMPLANTS?

While most people would be candidates for implants, if you have had severe bone loss for years, have certain health conditions that are not favorable to integrating a titanium post into your jaw bone, don’t have a very large opening or the bone health is not very good, you may not be a candidate. Smoking, having diabetes, being on blood thinners, or undergoing chemotherapy would be three of the “red flags” that we would need evaluate before proceeding. This doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t happen, it’s just that we might need to time it properly or take some extra precautions when doing the implant.

ARE DENTAL IMPLANTS SAFE?

Millions of dental implants are placed around the world daily. They have been around for over thirty years now and have evolved to be a commonplace in dentistry. Using a 3D cone beam x-ray to plan out the implant in advance of placement allows Dr. Kennedy the opportunity to provided extreme reliability and consistency in her results with a high degree of confidence. Because we are able to tell the height, width, and density of the bone prior to placing the implant, we can tell if the substructure is strong enough to hold the implant into the bone. Secondly, with the 3D x-rays available today, we can identify any blood vessels or nerves lying in the jawbone so we can avoid them. This technology was not readily available 15 years ago and because we have implemented it at our office and are one of the first implant dentists in Westmont to invest in this 3D cone beam technology, you can be assured of the safety and reliability of your dental implant when done at our office.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET AN IMPLANT?

In some cases, we might be able to place the post into the bone the same day as we extract the tooth. Depending upon whether there was an infection or if the bone has a defect where an abscessed tooth was removed, might determine whether we place it then or wait a few weeks for an infection to clear up to ensure higher rate of success. Since there are three parts to dental implants, the first part is the piece that goes into the bone to replace the tooth root. This is the surgical phase and that piece is called “the fixture” which helps to stabilize both the bone and the crown. Unless we know we have great bone support and stability, it is common to let that fixture “integrate” into the bone referred to as “osteointegration” for a few months prior to putting the connector piece called “the abutment” and the “crown” on top of it. We sometimes use the analogy of placing a metal post into some wet concrete in the ground; you wouldn’t want to be moving it around while the concrete is setting. Therefore, while a select few patients will get a crown placed the same day, it is more likely that we either bury it for a few months to integrate or put a smaller sized temporary over the area to provide some esthetic benefit immediately.

In cases where we had to do bone grafting to increase the amount of bone in the area to place the new restoration, or if we have to modify the sinus cavity to push them up to give more height of bone, in those cases, we might wait six to nine months before proceeding with the next step.

HOW CAN THIS PROCEDURE HELP WITH LOOSE DENTURES OR PARTIAL DENTURES?

Dentures typically sit on the gum tissue which is somewhat flexible. If there was significant bone loss in an area and there is a lot of excess gum tissue, the denture may wobble around when the patient chews on it. Partial dentures often have one end supported by a tooth and the other end can lift up and down. When we place one to four or in some cases more dental implants, it acts as anchors to stabilize the denture or partial denture, giving you incredible stability. These anchors can be placed either before, after, or during the making of the denture. When we can plan out the denture at the same time, we can position these anchors more ideally to offer the maximum support. If you have loose dentures or a partial denture that moves more than you might like, give our office a call to review with you some options on improving the stability of them today!