How To Choose an implant team
How do I know what my implant team knows (or doesn’t know)?
When searching for the right dental implant team, it is important to find dentists that have extensive training and experience. Be sure to ask your surgeon and restorative dentist questions about their education and professional associations. You may also ask to view the before and afters of previous patients so you can see proven results.
What is the restorative dentist’s training and experience?
Similar to surgeons, the restoring dentist can have a variety of backgrounds. Some dentists dabble in implant dentistry while filling their day with extractions, root canals, short-term orthodontics, and everything else under the sun. True restorative dentists focus on how teeth fit together, how to closely mimic the appearance of natural teeth, how to properly plan an implant case, and how to prevent complications with implants.
They dedicate immense time to investigating and studying research while learning new techniques that are designed to give the best results. Dr. Harper has been working with dental implants since he left dental school, including his time served in the Navy. He has worked with more than six different implant systems. He is a member of the select Advanced Dental Implant Study Club, a select group of 20 dentists, surgeons, and master lab technicians from across the country that meets twice a year. They discuss and find solutions for complex cases, review new implant techniques, and review new methods of caring for older implants.
What does all this mean to our patients? Strong backgrounds in implant restorations and implant surgery are blended together to achieve the best possible results, with the highest chance of success.
We offer a full range of implant treatment options. All treatment options are tailored to the needs and concerns of the patient through comprehensive treatment planning.
If you have compromised bone tissue and are missing all of your teeth click here to learn more about All-On-Four.
If you are missing one tooth, click here to learn more about a single dental implant.
If you have multiple missing teeth, click here to learn about an implant-secured bridge.
If you are missing a full arch of teeth click here to learn about dental implant-supported dentures.
Dr. William Harper
Dr. William Harper has been working with implants for 17 years and has experience with many different types of implant systems. He uses dental implants to help patients replace missing single teeth, both front and back teeth. He also uses implants to replace multiple missing teeth, including implant-supported bridges, implant-assisted dentures, implant-supported dentures, and “All on 4”, “All on Four”, and “Teeth in a Day” implant solutions.
His extensive background in smile design, anterior porcelain veneers, crowns, and occlusion (bite forces, and properly spreading out bite forces) allows him to predictably reconstruct natural-looking smiles and chewing ability. He often is called upon to help rescue or correct previous implant problems. His practice is very much a “problem solving” type of practice, and while he does spend some of his time on typical fillings and simple crowns, he spends more time coming up with solutions to help patients keep their functional and esthetic health for rest of their life.
Dr. Harper would prefer to find solutions early, rather than dealing with the problems created by “botched” treatments done haphazardly and without proper experience and training. Some of the problems that Dr. Harper has solved are shown below. (or HERE)
Dr. Harper, our restorative dentist, is a member of the Academy of Osseointegration which is the premier international association for professionals involved in implant dentistry. He is also a member of the Advanced Dental Implant Study Club (ADISC).
The ADISC is led by Dr. Robert Faulkner, a renowned expert in the world of implant dentistry., Dr. Faulkner is the director of The Ohio Center for Osseointegration and Restorative Dentistry and co-authored the textbook “Fundamentals of Implant Prosthodontics”, which is the most widely used textbook in dental schools today.
The select group includes surgeons, master dental technicians, and highly educated restorative dentists, such as Dr. Harper. They review and discuss challenging cases, new research, and new technology surrounding dental implants. In addition, Dr. Harper is a member of the Spear Faculty Club, a Sustaining Member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and has earned his Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry.
