Can You Get Dental Implants Immediately After a Tooth Extraction?

Dental implants could be just what you need to restore your smile and ensure long-term oral health. Some patients who know they need to have a tooth extracted plan to have it replaced with an implant. However, many patients are concerned about how long they must wait between losing the unhealthy tooth and receiving their new one. 

If you need a tooth extraction before your dental implant placement, it can be helpful to understand how it may change your overall treatment plan.

Different Dental Implant Treatment Plans

Dental implants are widely used to resolve many different issues. Patients can take advantage of dental implants if they are missing one, several, or all of their teeth. Your individual situation will impact how extraction fits into your treatment plan.

You can generally have implant placement simultaneously if you need just a single tooth replaced. With just one tooth and one implant to deal with, treatment is relatively fast and straightforward. If complications or new issues are uncovered during extraction, your oral surgeon can delay the implant placement until any concerns are addressed.

Patients who need full arch replacements to restore their entire smile may or may not require extraction. You could already have lost all your natural teeth or still have several. In many cases, removing the final remaining natural teeth to make way for full arch replacement is the right decision.

You can often have both extraction and implant placement in one visit for full arch replacement. A teeth-in-a-day procedure can provide a temporary restoration, so you walk out with a full smile in just one visit.

Benefits of Placing Dental Implants Right After Extraction

Individual cases vary in treatment plans, with some having more appointments than others. Placing your dental implants immediately after a tooth extraction is not strictly necessary. However, it is often in your best interest to place implants right after extraction when possible.

After losing a tooth, your jaw starts to undergo the process of bone resorption. Without tooth roots in place, you can lose bone in the affected area. This can be a significant concern for those missing any number of teeth, whether one or all.

How Dental Implants Help Prevent Bone Resorption

Dental implants prevent bone resorption by providing similar resistance and pressure to natural tooth roots. Placing the dental implant soon after extraction minimizes the risk of even minor bone resorption. The longer you go with a gap in your smile, the more likely you are to experience issues.

Planning both extraction and implant placement during the same visit prevents any resorption. On the other hand, while the difference might be insignificant if you receive the implant shortly after extraction, going extended periods before dental implant placement can complicate your treatment.

This is particularly notable in individuals who have gone years with missing teeth. When they decide to look into dental implants, they often find that bone resorption has reduced their bone material so much that the jaw cannot support dental implants. Bone grafting may be required to augment the jaw by adding more bone material.

Doing both extraction and implant placement in one visit is also a more convenient option for most patients. You will have one less visit to worry about, and you will not have to go through two separate recovery periods following both extraction and implant placement.

Complicating Factors

While many cases allow for tooth extraction and dental implant placement in one visit, this is only sometimes the case. Various complicating factors can delay implant placement, and some of these factors could require additional procedures to complete your treatment plan.

For instance, dental implants are often used to replace an infected tooth. During extraction, it could turn out that the infection has spread to the gums or bone tissue. The infection must be treated before the dental implants can be placed. Depending on the extent of the infection, you could require various treatments. This can delay your treatment plan but will help ensure that your dental implants provide strong and lasting support without developing oral health issues.

Once the infection has been dealt with, you should be able to proceed with your dental implant treatment as planned.

Find Out More About Your Dental Implant Treatment Plan

With four decades of knowledge and experience, SF Oral Surgery provides quality, compassionate care to patients needing immediate dental implants in San Francisco. Our skilled team will evaluate your individual case and determine whether you need additional procedures, such as tooth extraction or bone grafting. 

Get a full picture of what to expect from your dental implant treatment today.