Dental implants are often the ideal way to replace missing teeth as they are not supported by the adjacent teeth so these teeth are not drilled or required to take extra load unlike with bridges.

The implant consists of a titanium fixture that is placed into the jaw bone where the previous tooth was. This is normally done in a single appointment under local anaesthetic. The bone needs to be of good quantity and quality to receive implant so on some occasions a bone augmentation may be needed.

A healing/integration period of 3-6 months is often left to allow the bone to grow around the implant. During the healing phase in some cases, an immediate temporary crown can be placed on the implant or an immediate temporary bridge can be placed to minimise embarrassment and maintain function.

After the integration phase, a crown is attached to the implant to replace the tooth. In some cases, several implants may be connected using a bridge or a denture to replace multiple teeth.

A full arch can actually be replaced with 4-6 dental implants connected with a full arch fixed bridge. The same day teeth and all on four concepts can be used to immediately give someone the same day fixed smile on the day they have all their bad teeth removed.