Implant Dentistry
Serving Northern Virginia including Tyson’s Corner, Fairfax, Reston and Washington D.C. and surrounding areas
If you have a missing tooth, and it is not replaced fairly quickly, a series of dental problems can be set in motion. We offer dental implants as a safe and reliable way to prevent them, and to fill both the gap left by the missing tooth and the gap left in the jawbone by the missing tooth root.
Bone loss
A dental implant is an artificial tooth root. Many people who have one or more missing teeth have a bridge done to fill those tooth gaps. This restores chewing ability and smile attractiveness, but does not fill the space in the jawbone where tooth roots used to be. When those spaces are left, the jawbone will gradually shrink to fill them. This is known as bone resorption, and it changes your facial shape, your jaw line. It creates a more aged look. Bone tissue is lost from the jawbone.
Dental implants are a cosmetic dentistry offering to replace teeth and preserve the jawbone.
How do dental implants work?
Placing an implant is dental surgery. The implant is a small titanium cylinder with a slightly grooved surface. When it is in place, the jawbone grows in around it, incorporating it as part of itself. Titanium is chosen because it has such good affinity with bone tissue.
When implant and bone have merged and the gums have healed, a minor surgery adds an abutment to the implant. It is a small protrusion through the gum tissue. In the final procedure, a porcelain tooth is placed on it and permanently cemented to give you a new tooth, complete with new root.
Multiple teeth and bridges
A single implant can support two teeth if that is needed. It has two abutments placed on it in the right positions to be cemented to the two porcelain teeth. You can also use implants to support a bridge. This is excellent in that it avoids having to put crowns on healthy teeth to support the bridge, and avoids any metal wings or attachments to support it. In fact, implants can anchor a complete set of teeth, both upper and lower, if that is needed, and if there is enough bone tissue in the jaw.
Implant types
- The titanium cylinder implant is called a root form implant, and is done when the jawbone is both wide enough and dense enough to hold that type of implant.
- If the jawbone is too narrow, a plate form implant can be used, which is flat rather than cylindrical, and requires less bone width.
- If the jawbone is both too narrow and not dense enough, a subperiosteal implant is used, placed above the bone rather than in it, and below the gum tissue.
Dr. Chung is a graduate of the world-renowned Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI), where he acquired thorough training in dental implants, both theoretical and hands-on. You can benefit from his training.
If you would like to schedule a consultation with us, we could start to determine whether dental implants are a good option for you, and you could learn more about the possibilities. Please call or email us today. We serve Oakton, Vienna, McLean, Great Falls, Tyson’s Corner, Reston, Herndon, Fairfax, Falls Church, Chantilly, Centreville, Alexandria, Arlington, Loudon Counties, Washington D.C. and the Maryland area. We hope to meet with you soon.
2946-E Chain Bridge Road
Oakton, VA 22124
tel. 703 319 6990
