Will anybody be able to tell I have a dental implant?
Will an implant look like the rest of your teeth?
The short answer? It depends.
The long answer? It depends on the following factors:
The surgeon you choose: Depending on the surgeon’s expertise and cosmetic expertise, an implant may be more functional than beautiful or vice-versa. You need a perfect balance of both.
The ceramicist who makes the crown: A dental ceramicist isn’t just an artist. They’re also trained in dental biology and function. A crown that blends seamlessly with the rest of your natural teeth needs to be the right size, shape, colour, and translucency. It’s a very fine art and a science. Dentists can use a variety of labs at different price points both here in Australia or overseas, and finding a dentist who considers quality and cost is the safest bet to getting a perfectly disguised implant crown.
Your bone and gum health: When you lose a tooth, bone starts to recede around where the tooth used to be. When the bone shrinks the gum also shrinks away, and a pleasing, healthy gum line is the #1 factor between an implant that you can spot from a mile away and an implant nobody can discern from the rest of your teeth. Bone recession happens slowly in some people and quickly in others, and gums can be ‘thick’ or ‘thin’ depending on biology. If you’re missing a tooth, the more quickly you can replace it, the better for the long-term aesthetic outcome.
An implant crown is both a science and an art, and it takes an enormous amount of skill as well as a little help from your natural biology to craft teeth that blend seamlessly with your smile. It’s not just about choosing the right shade, but about making sure the gums contour perfectly, making sure the crown has a transparency that your natural teeth have, and making sure the size, shape, and placement is in harmony with the rest of your smile.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr Helen Voronina
Dr Helen Voronina is the principal dentist at “Dr Helen’s Dental & Implant Studio”. Having graduated from the University of Melbourne and later from the Brener Implant Institute, in her practice she places emphases on the implant, aesthetic and reconstructive dentistry. She is a member of the Australian Dental Association, The International Congress of Implantology and The Australian Society of Implant Dentistry (ASID). She is a former chairperson for the National Dental Foundation and an official dentist for the Melbourne Hearts Football Club.
