Dental implants are often an excellent solution to replace lost or damaged teeth in adults. Dental implants might be a better solution if you need to replace a tooth and think you might need dentures.

If you’ve researched dental implants at all, you may read that you can get a tooth pulled and an implant the same day, but is that actually true?

The short answer is that it depends. Let’s take a look at the dental implant process and how we determine when one-day dental implants are an option, then we’ll discuss whether implants are even a good option for you.

The dental implant process

We start by placing the implant in the jaw bone. Next, we allow the jaw to heal. That healing process generally takes up to three to six months. Finally, we place the tooth itself onto the implant. If the jaw does not feel solid enough at the three-month point, we wait for more time, up to the six-month point.

One-day dental implants

We can place dental implants the same day a tooth is extracted, but only if the right conditions exist. At the minimum, there needs to be no infection and adequate bone in the jaw.

The permanent tooth is never attached the same day because the jaw has to first heal from the implant. However, in many cases, we can place a temporary tooth on the implant to provide you with something to fill the space until the implant fully heals.

Are implants a good option?

I believe that implants are a better option than dentures in general. Anything that isn’t permanently attached is going to be less efficient effective than something like an implant. They’re the closest thing to your natural teeth, which is why I think they’re a better option than dentures.