A missing tooth is never just a missing tooth. Leave the gap alone and the teeth around it start to drift, the bone underneath starts to shrink, and your bite quietly changes shape. The challenge isn’t just “replace the tooth” – it’s replace it in a way that stops that chain reaction before it starts.
Why We Stopped Placing Implants
Dr. Sandquist used to place single implants himself. He stopped more than ten years ago, and the reason is worth saying plainly rather than leaving you to wonder.
Some implant sites need more than an implant. The bone has to be built up first, or the anatomy makes the placement a bigger procedure than it looked on the X-ray. Those are surgeries he was not going to do. Once it was clear that a straightforward single implant can turn into one of them without much warning, placing some and referring the rest stopped making sense.
So all of it goes to surgeons who do this work every day and are far better at it than he was ever going to be. We kept the half that decides how the tooth looks and functions for the next twenty years.
That is the same arrangement we use for every other surgical procedure: diagnosed and planned here, performed by the specialist, restored here.
Why We Start With 3D CBCT Imaging
Planning an implant means seeing more than the surface of your teeth – we need to see the bone underneath. That’s what 3D CBCT radiography is for: a more detailed 3D X-ray we bring in for implant cases, showing exactly how much bone is there to work with, where the nerves and sinuses sit, and where in the bone the implant needs to go.
Before anything is placed we work out where the finished tooth has to sit, and therefore where the implant has to go to support it. That plan is what your surgeon needs, and we make sure it travels with you rather than leaving them to work it out from scratch.
How Implants Work
A titanium post is placed into the jawbone, where it fuses with the bone over a few months to create a stable root. Once it’s healed, a custom crown is attached on top – built to match the size, shape, and color of the tooth next to it. That crown is our part of the job. The result functions and feels like a real tooth, because structurally, it’s built the same way one is.
One patient lost all the teeth and bone on one side of his jaw in a car accident as a young man. After years searching for a surgeon who could rebuild that much lost bone, the right referral finally made it possible – then implants gave him a smile and a working bite for good, and his old removable partial denture went in the trash.
See how we solved G.B.’s bone loss →
Not every implant case is that complex. Another patient had a single tooth fail and darken at the gumline after an old injury – it was extracted and replaced the same day with an implant, with the gum tissue restored right alongside it.
See that same-day implant case →
Sometimes the real problem isn’t visible at all. One patient came to us unhappy with how crowns and bridges done abroad looked – but a comprehensive exam found none of them actually fit properly, which had already caused gum disease and cost him several back teeth. Treating the gum disease and restoring the implants gave him a bite that finally worked, not just a better-looking one.
See how we solved S.V.’s case →
Implants vs. a Bridge or Denture
An implant is usually the strongest, longest-lasting option because it replaces the root, not just the crown – but it isn’t always the right fit for every mouth or every budget. If you’re missing more than one tooth, we’ll walk you through how implants compare to a bridge or denture for your specific situation.
When It’s an Entire Arch
Replacing a whole arch is a different procedure with different trade-offs, but the same division of labor: the surgeon places the implants, and we build and maintain the bridge that goes on top. More on All-on-4 and full-arch implants →