You’ve lost a tooth due to injury, gum disease or natural aging, and you’ve decided to get a dental implant for the most stable, permanent tooth replacement option. Now comes the hard part: finding a skilled, caring medical professional to conduct your dental implant surgery.

Although it can take hours to dredge through the many options spanning the breadth of the capital city, it’s ultimately worth it to take that time, not proceeding with the first dentist in the Yellow Pages. Interview your potential practitioners; you need to trust the person conducting surgery in your mouth. Here are a few questions you should ask before committing yourself to a particular dentist.

Ask why they’re qualified to conduct this particular oral surgery. Implant dentistry requires specialized certification. Not every dentist has this advanced training. All dentists are required to continue their education as long as they practice dentistry; with cutting-edge dental technologies developing all the time, a dentist has an obligation to their patients to offer the most applicable procedure for their given dental condition. However, not all dentists choose to study the same subjects. While one cosmetic dentist may have undergone the training to offer a dental implant, another Austin dentist may have chosen to study invisible aligners instead. Just because your dentist has always been able to serve your needs before doesn’t mean they can for this particular procedure. A periodontist, however, trains for implant dentistry during their required studies. If your dentist doesn’t offer implant dentistry, ask them to refer you to a skilled Austin periodontist. (more…)