Does Tooth Replacement Hurt?

It is great to consider an implant as it is the best treatment for tooth replacement and is pain free. An implant is most similar to the natural tooth, and it helps retain bone after losing a tooth.  

When the tooth is removed, it is best to place a graft of bone in its place when it is taken out. This allows your bone to fill in, even a better quality than would have filled in without it, and keeps the bone from “deflating” because of the tooth loss.

Three months later an implant is placed and you wait for the bone and implant to grow together, or integrate. At three months, the implant can be “uncovered” and a temporary tooth can be placed on the implant. This allows the gum to heal ideally. Six weeks later an index is taken and the lab can make a custom tooth for the implant. At the final appointment the restoration is placed on the implant. 

Some protocols allow a temporary tooth to be placed the same day the implant is placed. This is done on a case-by-case basis and can always increase the chance of problems. There are options for you to have a temporary tooth while you are waiting for the final tooth replacement. The whole process is easy and painless if the proper protocols are followed. 

Stacey Sparkman Hall, D.D.S.: Dr. Stacey Hall brings her unique outlook on dental care and her personable optimism to the Williamsburg Center for Dental Health. With nine years of solid dental expertise as a dentist in Williamsburg, she decided in early 2011 to branch out and open her own local practice. After completing her undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in 1998, Dr. Hall graduated from VCU’s MCV School of Dentistry in 2002, receiving her D.D.S. She is a member of the Academy of General Dentistry, the American Dental Association, and was awarded member fellowship to the International Congress of Oral Implantology in 2008. She leads the elite Tidewater Dawson Study Club and is a scholar with the interntaionally renowned Dawson Academy. As a Dawson ambassador, Dr. Hall also assists in the training of students in the Dawson Academy. Stacey and her husband Michael have been blessed with three beautiful girls, Lanie, Gracie and Abbie. She is a loyal Virginia Tech Football fan, and enjoys Bible study and missions work.