Dental Implants

Dental implants are replacements for natural teeth that have either been removed or are missing, available at Elite Dental Arts in New York. These implants are better alternatives to procedures like bridges because dental implants require no alteration of other teeth. Dr. Nick M. Mobilia and our oral surgeon Dr. Harvey Grossman offer dental implant services to our patients.

 

The entire implant process itself takes a few months to complete. The first part of the procedure is to install the implant within the mouth. This implant is a dental screw that will be inserted into the jaw bone. During this procedure, the patient will be under general anesthesia. Discuss any and all concerns with our staff, and we are more than happy to find a solution that works best for you. Once the patient is sedated, an incision is made into the gums. The dental implant is then inserted. After everything is finished, the gums will be sutured shut.

 

The implant will need 3-6 months to fully heal. During this process, the jaw bone will form around the implant. If needed, temporary crowns can be installed to allow you to eat and speak normally. Once the implant has healed, the next step can be taken. An abutment is placed onto the implant. This will be the base of your new tooth. From this, an impression will be made, which will be made into your permanent restoration. The permanent restoration will then be placed at your last appointment.

 

Dr. Nick M. Mobilia and Dr. Harvey Grossman are available for consultation and examinations through appointment. Contact Elite Dental Arts in New York by visiting our website or by calling 212-681-0939.

 

Smoking and Pulpitis

Smoking creates all sorts of oral health and aesthetic problems. That’s probably not news to you, but we at Elite Dental Arts in Midtown are interested in new research that shows smoking has other dental effects that were not previously understood. One of those effects is the suppression of the immune system in dental pulp, which could put patients at risk for recurring toothaches.

Dental pulp is highly sensitive and can become inflamed in response to injuries or infections. When tissue is inflamed, it becomes more permeable to antimicrobial peptides. These tiny acids latch onto invading bacteria and kill them, making them a crucial part of the immune system. But new research has shown that smokers lack antimicrobial peptides in their pulp, meaning that infections are able to last longer and are harder to treat. If left untreated long enough, a pulp infection could develop into a facial abscess and cause sepsis.

Root canals are the standard treatment for pulp infections, but there’s a possibility that some bacteria could be overlooked and cause the infection to return. An infected tooth may ultimately have to be pulled and replaced with an implant or partial denture. Although we provide high-quality prosthetics at Elite Dental Arts, we hope our patients will take this research as additional inspiration to avoid smoking.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

Retained Baby Teeth

Doctors Nick Mobilia and Harvey Grossman of Elite Dental Arts in Midtown are experienced providers of oral surgery. This makes our practice one of the most suitable for patients who need to have teeth replaced. Although it is our goal to save natural teeth whenever possible, there is one situation in which extraction is usually the best choice: when adults retain baby teeth.

Normally, the roots of baby teeth dissolve as adult teeth erupt. The baby tooth falls out and is replaced by the adult crown, possibly with some overcrowding. But the baby tooth may never fall out if no adult tooth ever develops. This is rare, nut most often occurs in the upper lateral incisors. There are also cases in which the incoming tooth never pushes out the baby tooth because one of them is misaligned, as sometimes happens in the lower central incisors.

“Retained deciduous teeth,” as baby teeth in adults are scientifically known, can create a health hazard in addition to looking displeasing. They are often misaligned in a way that makes them difficult to clean or chew comfortably with. Extracting them is usually a simple process, but orthodontic work or false replacements may be necessary to finish a patient’s treatment.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017

Peri-Implantitis

As specialists in restorative and cosmetic dentistry, we at Elite Dental Arts in Midtown have successfully placed hundreds of implants. These restorative devices can be designed to carry a load of a single artificial crown or to help support a denture. Lots of peoples’ lives have been significantly improved by them, but like natural teeth, it is important to care for them or they may be damaged. In this week’s blog post, we wanted to ensure patients understand the danger of peri-implantitis.

Gingivitis, or gum inflammation, is an unfortunately common ailment. It is usually the result of bacterial infections in the gum pocket, where bacteria consume food debris and produce acid that sticks to teeth. “Peri-implantitis” is the term dentists use to describe inflammation around implants, and while inflammation could be due to leaking dental cement or a rheumatic disorder, it is also usually caused by bacteria.

When infections become severe enough, they can cause gum recession and bone tissue loss. After patients get implants, dentists carefully monitor their bone mass, and if too much jaw tissue is lost, the implant has to be removed. However, despite the frequency of gum inflammation, implants are overwhelmingly successful. If patients come to us quickly after noticing signs of gum disease such as bleeding and redness, we can almost always save their implants.

To schedule an appointment, call 212-681-0939.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017