Time Requirements for Dental Implants
It all depends on your bone structure
The big question here is, if your bone structure supports the immediate loading of the implant. If it is, then dental implants can now be embedded right after tooth extraction. This means you can have new tooth roots upon leaving the office and possibly even have a temporary or a permanent crown loaded. However, if your fractured or decayed tooth is infected, immediate dental implant placement is not advisable. There should be no inflammation at the area of the implant site.
A warning
In general the process of installing dental implants and their accompanying teeth generally requires a number of steps taken over several months’ time, depending on the quality and quantity of your bone and the number of implants. Read this again slowly. Why? Many dental clinics who advertise on the net give the misleading impression that you can expect to walk into their office and leave it with a complete implant plus crown on top. This is misleading, because you should not expect it. It can turn out to be like that, but the majority of cases take a number of visits over a period of time.
And more words of caution
For people who have bone damage, the process can take as long as eight months.
The following is copied from a Q&A for dentists on the website of Nobel Biocare, the company with the biggest market share for dental implants worldwide.
Q: How do I know when an implant is stable enough for immediate function?
A: When an implant insertion torque of 35 – 45 Ncm is achieved before the final seating of the implant neck at the bone ridge.
In other words, even if your bone structure looks good on the x-ray, the dentist will not be able to promise you that he can complete the procedure in one day. Only when the implant insertion torque is measured and found to be sufficient, can he reasonably go ahead and load the implant.
Generally, taking time off work is not necessary for a single tooth replacement because the procedure is not more complex than a tooth extraction.
It takes as little as six weeks to as much as three to four months for lower jaw implants to heal completely and as little as six weeks to as much as six to nine months for those in the upper jaw. The healing time is determined on an individual basis and by the type of implant used. Following adequate healing, the prosthodontist will begin a series of appointments to fabricate the bridges or individual teeth that will be placed onto the titanium posts to replace the missing teeth.