ART Dentistry All You Need To Know About Dental Implants | Page 5

Prior to having dental implants fitted a dentist will make sure that implants are right for you. Although
they have several benefits over other types of prosthetics, they are not always the correct choice for some
patients. In order to ensure that they are the right path to choose, a dentist will measure you for implants,
check your remaining teeth, the health of the gum tissue into which the implants would be inserted, and
most importantly the health and dentistry of the jaw bone. This will most likely be done via a CT scan
and/or X-ray so as to get the most accurate picture.
If however it is deemed that the jaw bone is unsuitable to place implants into then alternatives are
available. It may be that the particular location of the desired insert is not strong enough and the insert
may need to be placed off centre. For those patients without suitable bone density, aside from the option
of dentures and bridges, there is also that of bone grafting. This method involves removing bone from
another part of the patient's body (usually another area of the jaw but occasionally the hip or shin) and
inserting it into the area required. This does affect the timeline form which you can have your inserts
embedded as the bone will need time to fuse and strengthen to the jaw. If however, the idea of surgically
removing bone doesn't appeal to you then you should speak to your dentist regarding artificial bone
replacements. But it stands that the bone naturally occurring in a patients body is considered the best
substitute.