Dental Implants for Newport Beach, CA

Newport Beach patients drive about 25 minutes up Pacific Coast Highway to Goldenwest St for dental implants placed by a periodontist at Safari Dentistry and Implants. The Huntington Beach office plans front-tooth implants on a CT scan and an intraoral scan so the gum line and the crown match the neighboring teeth, and it does any gum or bone grafting needed for a natural result in-house.

How the implant process works at Safari

Getting a dental implant takes three to four visits over three to six months: a consultation with a CT scan, the surgery to place the post, a healing period, and the visit where the crown is attached. For Newport Beach patients every one of those visits happens at Goldenwest and Heil, because the periodontist who places the implant also restores it.

1. Consultation and CT scan. The scan shows bone height and width, the nerve and the sinus. You look at it with the periodontist and get a written plan and fee.
2. Bone grafting if needed. Thin bone is built up first, or at the same visit as the implant when the scan allows it. Sinus lifts for upper back teeth are done here too.
3. Implant placement. About an hour for a single implant, under local anesthetic. Oral sedation is available. Most patients are back to normal in two days.
4. Crown. After healing, an intraoral scan is taken and the ceramic crown is made and fitted.

Why a periodontist rather than a general dentist?

Periodontists train for three years after dental school in the gum and bone around teeth, which is exactly where an implant lives. The long-term failures of implants are almost all gum and bone problems, and a periodontist is the specialist who prevents and treats them. Having that specialist do the placement and the follow-up is the difference between an implant that lasts twenty years and one that needs rescuing.

Why Newport Beach patients choose Safari for implants

Newport Beach patients ask harder questions about front-tooth implants: whether the gum will recede and show metal, whether the crown will match, whether the bone will hold. Those are periodontal questions, and the periodontist answers them from the scan, grafts the gum or bone where needed, and places the implant with the crown in mind. The fee is written down at the consultation and does not change.

Cost, insurance and payment plans

You leave the first visit with the fee written down: implant, abutment, crown, any grafting, and the follow-up visits. That number does not change once you are in the chair. The front desk checks your PPO or HMO benefits first, tells Newport Beach patients on Medi-Cal Dental what the program will and will not pay for, and sets up monthly payments for the balance if you want them.

What to bring to your first visit from Newport Beach

• Any recent X-rays or a treatment plan from another office, for a second opinion.
• Your insurance card or Medi-Cal Dental member number; benefits are checked before the scan.
• A list of medications, especially blood thinners and osteoporosis drugs.
• A driver if you would like oral sedation for the surgery visit.