For those suffering from missing or badly damaged or decayed teeth, dental implants offer a possible solution, providing you a winning and engaging smile to last a lifetime. In addition to boosting your smile and self-confidence, implants can prevent the loss of bone mass in your jawbone, improve your biting strength and possibly your speech, and in general, promote your overall oral health.
In other words, implants can greatly improve the quality of your life, but since implants involve surgery, you want to make sure you’re in the right hands and have chosen the right dental specialist to perform the procedure.
Things to look for
Here are the three things you should consider when choosing a dental implant specialist to perform your procedure.
- Training and Education
All licensed dentists must have attended four years of dental school to earn their dental degree, and while, theoretically, any dentist could perform implant surgery, frankly you don’t want just any dentist. For a safe and successful surgical outcome, you want to find a dentist who has received post-graduate training in performing implant procedures, as well as one who continues to expand his or her knowledge through continuing education studies that keep them abreast of the latest developments in the field.
So, how do you get this kind of information? One source is their website where you can look at their bio that should list their training, and their LinkedIn profile is another possible source for background information. If you can’t get the desired information through this kind of research, consider sending an email inquiry to the dental office or offices you’re considering.
- Experience
Specialized training is extremely important, but so also is experience. Ideally, you would like to find a dental specialist with many years of experience, during which they’ve performed dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of implant surgeries. The learning curve for mastering dental implant surgery is a rather steep one, and it takes years for a dentist to become a true specialist in this field.
Along with experience, you want a breadth of knowledge. In other words you want an implant specialist who is familiar with various implant procedures and can offer their patients a variety of implant choices.
- A flexible, patient-oriented approach to implant surgery
While dental implants are a wonderful way to address many dental issues, they are not a cure-all, and they’re not necessarily for everyone. A dentist well trained and experienced in the field of implant surgery will be well aware of all this and will carefully explain the options open to you, as well as any risks that may be involved, should you decide to go forward with an implant procedure.
Dental Implants in Round Lake Beach
If you think that dental implants will provide a satisfactory solution to your dental problems, we urge you to contact us at Reilly & Siegel Family Dental where implant dentistry is one of our specialties.
Dr. Vikram Sharma, a native of the Palatine, IL area, earned his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago, after which he received additional training during his residency at Chicago’s Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
During his extensive training, Dr. Sharma has studied all aspects of oral surgery, including dental implantation, and through his continuing studies he stays abreast of the latest development in this area of dental specialty. He is dedicated to getting to know his patients, while answering all their questions and lowering any lingering dental anxiety they may have.
If you’re considering dental implants, Dr. Sharma will be glad to explore the various options open to you, and we urge you to contact us at Reilly & Siegel Family Dental to schedule your initial consultation.
