Have you been looking into dental implants for your tooth loss treatment? If so, you may have quickly noticed that there are some new terms to take in! When you don’t know what they mean, they can slow your educational progress down. When you know them well, you can more easily begin to understand and choose from among your options for replacing missing teeth. To make sure you’re on solid (and informed) footing regarding associated terminology, we have a quick glossary that will help.
Dental Implants
Think you know what an implant is? If you think it’s an entire tooth, you’re not quite right. If you think it’s just a prosthetic that will stand in place of your missing tooth’s roots, then you’re spot on. Remember that the implant will support the rest of your tooth replacement but that it is only one part.
Osseointegration
After dental implant placement, you will need to wait a few months while the implant post becomes “one” with your jawbone. We call this process osseointegration. Once the fusion is complete, we can move forward with finishing up your replacement.
Abutment
We want to add the prosthetic that will replace the visual part of your missing tooth to the implant post but how to connect these two features? With an abutment! It’s the piece in the middle that acts as a stable connection point.
Restoration
About that dental crown you plan on receiving to complete or “restore” your dental implant: We call it a restoration. We also use the term restoration to refer to a partial denture, full denture, or bridge if you are planning on receiving a few implants to replace multiple missing teeth.
