High Tech Dental Implant Placement
Using computer technology for accurate, safe and durable implants
Dr. Holt Gray can plan your implant surgery on his computer before he begins, using 3D models of your jaw.
How does implant surgery work?
When you are missing one or more teeth and want to replace them with dental implants, Dr. Gray will suggest the right type of implant surgery for you. Your surgery may be done in one or two steps, depending on your case.
A dental implant has 3 parts: a titanium post that is placed in your jaw, a second piece called an "abutment" that screws into the implant and provides a base for the new tooth, and finally a porcelain crown that is placed on top of the abutment, and looks and feels like your natural tooth.
The titanium post is surgically placed in your jaw bone. It needs to be placed to a sufficient depth and at an exactly correct angle to support the abutment and crown, and to provide you with the ability to bite and chew normally and easily.
In order to do this, Dr. Gray needs to accurately and precisely measure the bone that you have available to support the planned implant(s). Unfortunately, when teeth are missing or severely decayed, you can suffer also from loss of bone in your jaw. If this is the case, you will need to have bone surgically grafted onto your jaw bone before a titanium post can be placed.
How can Dr. Gray tell if I have enough bone for an implant?
Panoramic x-rays are fast and comfortable.
Using 3D digital imaging, Dr. Gray can take a full picture of your jaw from every angle. This will enable him to examine your jaw bone fully prior to any surgery, and measure exactly the depth of the bone.
Our state-of-the-art panoramic x-ray machine is all digital, making it very safe and comfortable. With pictures from this machine, Dr. Gray can all parts of your jaw, and at any needed magnification.
This patient had serious bone loss. Dr. Gray was able to graft bone to his jaw, and then place titanium posts to support the implants that he needed.
When he arrived in our office, this patient was missing quite a few teeth, and his remaining teeth were very decayed. He suffered from serious bone loss.
After bone graft surgery, Dr. Gray was able to place implants throughout this patient's jaw.
See more dental implant cases and their outcomes here.
Computer-directed surgery is accurate and free of surprises
To plan your dental implant surgery, Dr. Gray uses an innovative computer-aided design system called Nobel Guide. The NobelGuide system was designed by biomedical engineers to ensure the best possible accuracy in placing dental implants.
Implants placed with Nobel Guides are incredibly accurate, compared to "freehand" implant placement. Particularly in cases where there is substantial bone loss, or there are few remaining teeth, it can be quite difficult to accurately place the implant posts using freehand placement.
NobelGuides demonstrate precisely where and how Dr. Gray will place your implants in surgery to get the best possible results.
Using the NobelGuides computer software, Dr. Gray first does a complete analysis of your digital x-rays. This enables him to accurately assess bone depth in each area that might be needed to support an implant, and to be certain before he drills that the bone is deep enough to support an implant post without compromising any vital structures.
If the analysis indicates that the bone is not deep enough to support a post, Dr. Gray will build up the bone with grafting in precisely the locations needed. When there is sufficient bone to support the implant, Dr. Gray will use the NobelGuide system to assess and plan the perfect placement of your implant posts. The computer will guide his surgery down to the smallest increment, and enable him to place posts of the best possible size and at the best possible angle to ensure integrity and long term strength.
Complete and safe implant surgery right here in our office
Dr. Chhabra will monitor you constantly while Dr. Gray performs your surgery.
At McCalla Dental, we are lucky to have Board Certified Anesthesiologist Nitin Chhabra as our Anesthesiology Consultant. Dr. Chhabra grew up in Birmingham, and has enjoyed a personal and professional relationship with the Drs. Poczatek and Dr. Gray for over 15 years.
Over the last year, we have worked to provide a comfortable, pleasant and safe dental experience for our patients, utilizing IV sedation. By having such a unique working experience and collaboration, we are able to treat patients in the office setting, rather than sending them to a hospital or outpatient surgery center.
Call us at (205) 267-5111 to make an appointment or request a dental appointment online.
Patient Testimonial
"I suffered bone loss from an old injury. My teeth were loose, and I had trouble eating a lot foods.
"I came to McCalla Dental and worked out a treatment plan that made me really happy. I decided to go with four dental implants in the front. Dr. Gray did the necessary extractions, the bone grafting and installed the posts. Dr. John put the crowns on.
"It was just amazing the difference. I used to smile without showing my teeth. Now I don't hesitate to smile. I have more confidence now for my job. I deal with a lot of wealthy clients, and I feel more self-confident now when I work with them.
"I really appreciate that they set me up with Care Credit for financing. I could never have afforded to pay for it all up front, and I wound up with an easy payment plan.
"The doctors and staff here have been great the whole time. I would highly recommend them to anyone. They took a long tedious experience and made it as smooth as they could. It has been a great experience."
– Richard Curb
Call us at (205) 267-5111 to make an appointment or request a dental appointment online.