Mini Dental Implants for Crowns

When it comes to tooth damage and decay, dentists will most commonly recommend a crown to improve the health and life of your tooth. While crowns can improve oral health by improving the look and function of damaged teeth, until recently, they were not capable of replacing a single missing tooth. Now, with mini dental implants for crowns, the dental implant acts as the tooth root, and allows for the replacement of a single missing tooth, without relying on support from surrounding teeth.

The Crown Stabilization Procedure

Traditional crowns are tooth-shaped caps which are placed over an existing tooth—often one that is damaged due to decay, accident, or other circumstances—in order to restore its shape, size and strength, for proper function and appearance. Crowns look and act like real teeth, however they rely on the support of the existing tooth root.

While crowns are ideal for restoring damaged and decaying teeth, it was only with the introduction of the mini dental implant, that crowns became a viable source for replacing a single missing tooth. 

The mini dental implant system for crown placement:

-        The implant. The titanium alloy implant is rooted into the jawbone where it acts as an anchor to stabilize the crown.

-        The metal housing. A metal housing is incorporated into the base of the crown and is what connects the crown to the implant.

-        The rubber O-ring. The O-ring is inside the metal housing and works as a seal to lock the two pieces together.

The mini dental implant or MDI treatment will take place right in your dentist’s office with use of a local anesthetic. The dental implant is placed in the jaw bone using precise and controlled techniques that involve a small incision in the gum line, after which a specialized drill is used to create a small hole in the jawbone where the implant is inserted. Once placed, only the ball-shaped head of the implant, or abutment, will be visible above the gum line.

The metal housing, complete with O-ring is then attached to the crown so that they can be ‘snapped’ into place. The socket-like O-ring connects with the ball-shaped abutment, locking the crown firmly in place so that it rests comfortably on the gum line, providing the look, feel and function of a natural tooth.