I’m going to walk you through things you may not know about the Teeth in a Day process, all the prep that goes into it, what to expect on the day of surgery and what to expect after the surgery.
Can I Get a Whole New Set of Teeth in 30 Minutes?
So the biggest misnomer is that you can just walk in off the street and I can make you a whole new set of teeth and 30 minutes in the door, out the door. That could not be further from the truth. There’s a lot of planning, a lot of preparation, a lot of groundwork that has to be laid prior to the day of surgery. The day of surgery is our fun day. That’s always a good time because I can see the result. I know where it’s going to be.
The Team at Dental Implant and Aesthetic Specialists
A lot of times the patient comes in with painful teeth, teeth are not happy aesthetically, have teeth that are hurting so they can’t chew and function, and I know at the end of the surgery they’re going to leave with this great smile that they can chew and function with. It is going to be awesome. So on that note, I have a really dedicated team that I’ve got a lot of experience with that I trust implicitly to know exactly where I want to go and help us get there.
That team includes my surgeon who does a great job of looking at the bone, looking at the tissue, planning out exactly where we want to place those implants for the best result. My lab technician who’s got a ton of experience doing these really complex cases, that has enabled me to kind of guide him to give us teeth that look very lifelike, look very natural, get you as close to the beautiful smile that you want to have, just like the one you were born with.
The last member of our team is the digital team. With them, with my surgeon, with me, with my lab technician. On every case, we collaborate ahead of time. We’re looking at your three-dimensional bone scan. We’re looking at your intraoral scans, we’re looking at your facial scans, we’re looking at everything. All that comes together in a big meeting where we talk about where your bone is. Do you have the right bone? Do we need to do any bone augmentation? Are your sinuses in the way and how are we going to stabilize everything? So there’s a lot of work that goes in ahead of time, what size implants, what type of implants, where we want to place them, what parts and pieces we need, and we get all that together. And once we’ve got your whole case digitally planned out, we’ve already done the case. Then just comes the day of surgery.
The Day of Your Surgery
And so the day of surgery is awesome. You come in if you want to be sedated, that’s great. A lot of people don’t want to know what’s going on the day of surgery. They just want to come in and they want to leave with a nice full set of teeth. So we get you nice and sedated. My surgical team does a good job of making you feel at ease. They get you nice and numb, take the teeth out. We have a really custom-made intricate surgical guide for every patient that goes into place and allows us to put those implants exactly, I mean to the micron, exactly where we plan them so we know they have the best chance of success. Once those implants are in place, my lab technician and I work together to put your new temporary teeth and attach to those implants.
The surgeon helps kind of close everything up, make sure everything looks really good, and then you’re out the door. And so the typical healing is about three to four days. We have patients that will get this done on a Thursday or Friday, sometimes back at work on Monday, no worse to wear looking great with a new set of teeth. The biggest issue is the healing from the extractions. Usually, that’s the biggest concern. If you’ve had a tooth taken out in the past, that’s your typical healing time. That’s going to be your typical experience because you’re going to be a little sore. There’s going to be some tissue soreness. But the nice thing with the Teeth in a Day appliance, it gets attached to those implants. And so when you leave the day of surgery, there’s nothing removable. There’s nothing floating around in your mouth. There’s nothing wobbling around or moving. You don’t have to worry about anything falling out. You don’t have to take anything out when you sleep.
What to Eat After Your Surgery
So you go home that night, you’ve got this great beautiful set of teeth. You can function, chew, and on that chewing note, we always tell patients, start off with some soft foods. Those first couple of days, I want you to try scrambled eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese. Don’t need to be on a liquid diet because I want you to start using these teeth and functioning with them. But softer foods for the first couple days, and with the appliance being attached to the implants, there’s no contact with the extraction sites. There’s no banging on those sore tissues, and so you can kind of progress to bigger and better foods a lot quicker than you can from a conventional extraction. So you can go to pastas, you can go to chicken. The big thing is our one rule of thumb on this is if you can’t cut it with a fork, we don’t want you eating it while you’re in your temporary appliance.
How Long Will You Use This Appliance? What Does the Healing Process Look Like?
And so you’ll be in this temporary appliance for about three to four months, and I call it a passive healing because the gum tissue heals the bone is growing around those implants. You’re not going to even feel or know what’s going on. All you’re going to be aware of is you have a nice, beautiful set of teeth that you can eat, anything that you can cut with a fork.
Once we hit that three to four-month mark and everything’s healed and my surgeon gives us the green light, then we start the process of making your permanent set of teeth that we designed to last you the rest of your lifetime. The permanent set of teeth are usually made out of zirconia or titanium substructure, ceramic, the strongest materials we use in the mouth, and they’re designed to allow you to chew and function and eat pretty much anything you want to eat.
Making Your Permanent Set of Teeth
So the process of making your permanent set of teeth, it’s involved. There’s multiple appointments, there’s lots of checks and balances, lots of taking things in and out. But the nice thing is throughout the whole process of making your permanent set of teeth, you’ll always be wearing the temporary teeth. So you’ll come in with your temporary teeth. We may have to take them off to do everything we need to do, and we always put ’em back in before you go.
So that’s a big advantage in that once you leave that day of surgery, you’re always going to have teeth attached to those implants. So you’re never going to be in a removable state. You’re never going to be without teeth because I know that’s a big concern. If you’ve gone in your whole life with teeth, you’re not happy with missing teeth. Once you make that decision to go into the teeth and appliance, there’s nice peace of mind knowing, you know what, from this day forward, I’ll always have a nice set of teeth, whether it’s my temporary ones or the permanent ones that I’m going to feel confident in.
Find a Team That Will Take Care of You
Probably my biggest piece of advice when someone is considering are they a candidate for Teeth in a Day, should I get through with the process, is make sure you find a team that’s going to take care of you. It’s really important that you have competent, experienced professionals, not only on the surgical side, not only on the restorative side, but also on the laboratory and digital planning side. It really is a complex puzzle, but once you get all the right parts and pieces and you get somebody that has your best interest in mind and will take care of you, it’s a smooth process. So all the planning that goes in ahead of time leads to a surgical date, which is low stress on my end because I know what’s going to happen. I know what’s going to be the final result.
If you’re someone who’s wondering about Teeth in a Day has questions, please reach out to us. Contact the office. We’d love to get you in and take a look and discuss with you your options. I’m Dr. Brett Langston. I’m a prosthodontist. I’m the owner of Dental Implant and Aesthetic Specialist, and I’m here to help you watch your mouth.