A dental implant is not a false tooth. It is a small titanium post placed into the jawbone where the root used to be, left to fuse with the bone, and then fitted with a crown. Three separate parts doing three separate jobs.
A dental implant is a post, an abutment and a crown
The dental implant post is a screw shaped piece of titanium, usually around a centimetre long, placed into the jaw. Bone grows directly onto its surface over the following months, a process called osseointegration, and that bond is what holds everything above it. Titanium is used because bone accepts it rather than walling it off.
The abutment is the connector that screws into the post and sits at gum level. The crown, described on Implant Crown, goes on top and is the only part you ever see. Together they replace one tooth, which is what Single Tooth Implant covers end to end.
The same principle scales. Several posts can carry a bridge or a whole arch, which is Full Arch Implants.
How it works
The idea
Why a dental implant replaces the root, not just the tooth
Bone needs loading
Jawbone stays where it is being used. A root loads it every time you chew, and that is what keeps it there.
Losing a root starts loss
Once the root is gone the bone is no longer loaded and begins to shrink, fastest in the first year.
A bridge sits above it
A conventional bridge replaces the visible tooth but nothing below the gum, so the bone underneath keeps receding.
A post takes its place
An implant occupies the root position and loads the bone again, which is the difference that shows up over years.
What it is not
Not a denture, and not a quick fix
A dental implant is not removable, it does not rest on the gum, and it is not fitted in an afternoon. The bone has to fuse to the post before the tooth goes on, which takes months regardless of how the treatment is marketed. What can happen quickly is a temporary tooth, covered on Same Day Implants.
It also cannot decay, though that is not the same as needing no care. The gum around a post can become inflamed exactly as it does around a natural tooth, and that is the main long term risk, set out on Implant Risks. Whether one suits you at all is on Implant Candidacy.
NoRemovable
NoCan decay
YesNeeds cleaning
Where to next
Where a dental implant goes next in Victoria
The treatments that use this, and the comparisons worth reading before deciding.
Materials, feel, longevity and the difference from other options.
Because bone bonds directly to it rather than treating it as foreign material. That property, discovered by accident in the 1950s, is the whole basis of modern implants. Zirconia posts exist as an alternative for specific cases but titanium remains the standard.
Close, and most people stop noticing within weeks. The difference is that a natural tooth has a ligament around the root that gives fine feedback when you bite. An implant is fused directly to bone, so that particular sensation is absent. For chewing and speaking it behaves like a tooth.
The post itself is designed to stay for decades and often does. The crown on top wears and typically needs replacing after ten to fifteen years, the same as any restoration. Cleaning and regular checkups affect the outcome more than any other factor.
No. A denture rests on the gum and comes out. An implant is fixed into the jaw and stays. The two can be combined, with a denture anchored onto posts, which is often the sensible middle route when a full arch of fixed teeth is out of reach.
Most people can, but not everyone. Enough bone, healthy gums, controlled medical conditions and the ability to manage the cleaning all matter. Smoking and uncontrolled diabetes materially lower the odds of success, and we will tell you honestly where we think the risk is high.
Victoria patients
What Victoria patients say once they understood it
★★★★★4.9· 118 reviews on Google
★★★★★
Nobody had explained that the root matters, not just the tooth. That is what made the decision for me.
W. Lindahl
Read before booking, Victoria
★★★★★
Once I understood a bridge does nothing for the bone underneath, the extra cost made sense.
V. Ibarra
Chose implant over bridge, Langford
★★★★★
They took the time to explain the three parts rather than just handing me a quote.
K. Sundgren
Asked a lot of questions, Colwood
★★★★
Understanding why it takes months made the wait far easier to accept than being told to be patient.
X. Belanger
First implant, Saanich
From the blog
Victoria implant guides: cost, healing time and treatment comparisons
Understand dental implants in Victoria, then see your jaw
Reading takes you a long way, but only a scan can say whether your site has the bone for a post. The consultation covers that, and you see the images rather than being told a conclusion.
