Dental Implants Specialist: Your Guide to Lasting Solutions for Failing Teeth
Teeth fail for a variety of reasons. A loose tooth, a cracked tooth, a failing bridge, worn teeth, or dentures that aren’t stable all affect chewing, comfort, speech, and confidence. Whether one tooth fails or it feels like your dental issues are stacking up, the bottom line is that patients should demand a lasting solution.
Wise patients search for a dental implant specialist because they want experienced care, predictable treatment, and a result that feels natural and dependable.
At Texas Center for Oral Surgery & Dental Implants, treatment is led by board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeons using advanced technology, sedation options, and customized treatment plans for patients with missing, damaged, or failing teeth throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Is There Really a Dental Implant Specialist?
The term “dental implant specialist” is commonly used by dentists, but it is not a formally recognized specialty by itself.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery, however, is THE recognized surgical specialty within dentistry. Oral surgeons complete four to six additional years of hospital-based surgical training after dental school. This training focuses on surgery, anesthesia, facial anatomy, complex extractions, bone grafting, and implant placement.
Most non-surgeon dentists, on the other hand, acquire their education via seminars and weekend courses.
We believe patients should be looking for a provider with advanced surgical training and meaningful experience in implant care.
What Patients Usually Mean by Dental Implant Specialist
Titles and credentials matter but those aren’t the only things that separate true experts from the pretenders.
Genuine expertise requires more than a basic understanding and occasional practice. As a dedicated oral surgery specialty practice, all of the surgeons in our practice:
- Place implants regularly using the most modern approaches and technology
- Understand jawbone support and anatomy
- Use detailed imaging and treatment planning
- Can manage simple and complex cases
- Offer realistic recommendations
- Prioritize long-term success
While other places are doing the occasional dental implant among the many other things they do from day to day, the oral surgeons in our practice treat implant cases daily. When patients are dealing with failing teeth, bone loss, years of denture wear, or treatment they were previously told would be difficult, experience matters.
Why Dental Implants Are a Surgical Procedure
Dental implants replace the root of a missing tooth. A small implant post is placed into the jawbone, where it heals and fuses with the surrounding bone. The implant then serves as the foundation for a crown, bridge, or full-arch restoration.
Because implants are placed in bone, this is a surgical procedure that requires proper diagnosis, planning, and technique.
Successful treatment depends on evaluating:
- Medical history
- Bone volume and density
- Gum health
- Bite forces
- Nearby nerves and sinus anatomy
- Existing teeth and restorations
- Long-term restorative goals
Some patients need straightforward implant placement. Others may require extractions, bone grafting, or staged treatment before the final restoration is completed. While anyone can drill a hole and place a screw in it, long term success is only possible when proper planning and surgical execution come together.
What Is the Role of an Oral Surgeon in Implant Placement?
Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are the surgical specialists of dentistry.
Their advanced training make them the best choice when treatment involves:
- Tooth removal
- Bone grafting
- Sedation or anesthesia
- Multiple missing teeth
- Full-arch reconstruction
- Medically complex patients
At Texas Center for Oral Surgery & Dental Implants, all of our surgeons are board-certified by the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and perform implant related surgeries on a daily basis.
Why Training and Experience Matter
There’s no such thing as a “routine” surgery when you’re the patient.
Even patients with seemingly straightforward needs benefit from careful planning and experienced surgical care. Cases involving multiple failing teeth, bone loss, prior dentures, or anxiety about surgery require a more comprehensive treatment approach.
The provider’s background influences:
- Diagnosis accuracy
- Treatment options
- Surgical efficiency
- Patient comfort
- Long-term success
Every patient is different. The right plan should reflect the patient’s condition, health history, goals, and expectations.
Questions Worth Asking When Comparing Providers
A major decision deserves clear answers. If you are comparing implant providers, practical questions can be helpful:
- How often do you place dental implants?
- Each of the surgeons at Texas Center place implants every day, ultimately resulting in hundreds of implants placed per surgeon per year. It is one of the most common procedures in our practice.
- How do you ensure surgical accuracy?
- Our surgeons use dynamic navigation with the X-Guide system. This tool is like a GPS for the surgeons who plan each case from the ideal tooth position working back to the ideal implant position and then use the X-Guide during surgery to get maximum accuracy. This is much more predictable than either eyeballing the surgery (known as freehand placement) or using 3D printed guides which work well in only certain locations and can delay surgery for manufacturing while X-Guide works in all locations and can be done as fast as same-day.
- Our surgeons use dynamic navigation with the X-Guide system. This tool is like a GPS for the surgeons who plan each case from the ideal tooth position working back to the ideal implant position and then use the X-Guide during surgery to get maximum accuracy. This is much more predictable than either eyeballing the surgery (known as freehand placement) or using 3D printed guides which work well in only certain locations and can delay surgery for manufacturing while X-Guide works in all locations and can be done as fast as same-day.
- Do you treat full-arch or complex cases? How often?
- As surgical specialists, our surgeons treat complex cases, including full-arch cases, regularly. This includes frequent revision cases where patients were treated first by less qualified providers and now must pay us to correct their issues. It also includes complex bone grafting cases, cases that other providers said were not candidates for implants, etc.
- What imaging technology do you use?
- We use full jaw 3D CBCT imaging to plan and execute our cases along with digital intraoral scanning technology to obtain impressions of the teeth and gums. We also use 3D facial scanning when needed so that we can plan the proper position of the future teeth in harmony with the patients’ facial features. This leads to better results, faster, with fewer re-do’s.
- Do you offer sedation?
- Most patients in our practice choose IV sedation for their surgery. Unlike other dentists, oral surgeons are uniquely trained to provide comprehensive anesthesia services. Did you know most dentists offering IV sedation were trained in weekend courses and likely have never done basic anesthesia skills such as placement of a breathing tube? Oral surgeons, on the other hand, spend 6 months in the OR as anesthesiology residents during their training along with 4-6 total years of doing anesthesia and surgery together during residency. Collectively, our surgeons do over 2,000 IV sedations annually. Our offices, our teams, and our doctors are set up for anesthesia, not simply a dental office being used for anesthesia on occasion. Additionally, when needed, we utilize dedicated anesthesia providers for general anesthesia cases in our offices.
- Do you perform bone grafting when needed?
- Our doctors perform the complete scope of bone grafting when needed, from the most basic socket bone graft after a tooth is removed to complex grafting of the sinus and ridge augmentation to grow additional bone width prior to or at the time of implant placement.
- How is treatment planned for long-term success?
- Long-term success is the natural result when proper planning and surgical experience come together. Each part of the process can create potential failure. This includes evaluating patient risks (like the bite and the patient’s health factors), material selection (which specific implant is being used), evaluation of the bone (proper imaging), planning for the position of the future tooth or teeth (guided surgery and advanced imaging), intraoperative decision making (when to move from plan A to plan B), and post-operative guidance (how to tell that the implant has healed properly). Very few practices, even most other specialty practices, in DFW, address each of these points with the care and concern that each of our surgeons commit to.
- How did you decide which implant system to use?
- Our practice exclusively places Straumann dental implants. Straumann is a premium implant manufacturer known for their well-researched, data-driven approach to product development. Straumann is also widely known for manufacturing implants which consistently have the highest success rates in published studies. Our surgeons place Straumann implants despite the fact that we could purchase implants for half the cost because we believe that properly researched, highly predictable implants mean fewer complications and better results for our patients. Our patients are worth the investment. Most discount providers use unresearched, cheap alternatives. Many of these may be difficult to find parts for in the future should the need arise as these companies tend to come and go.
If you’d like to learn more about how implant systems compare, our blog covers the different types of dental implants in detail.