Solutions and Services
Dental Extractions
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Dental extraction is the most common procedure we do. Regardless if a patient needs a single tooth extraction, a full mouth removal of teeth, or removal of impacted wisdom teeth, we provide the treatment with all the care and attention to detail as we would to our family.
Single Dental Implant Replacement at the time of Extraction of a Tooth
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This is the most common single implant procedure Dr. Woo performs. Instead of waiting for a few months after a dental extraction for an implant, in most cases the implant could be placed immediately, saving time and eliminating additional surgery and healing. Dr. Woo would guide a patient to determine if this is the preferred approach in his/her case.
Front Tooth Implant Replacement
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Front teeth are the most challenging due to the fact that they are in the esthetic zone when people smile. Implant surgery timing, selection of shape and size of the implant, pre-surgical visualization of the jaw anatomy, understanding of prosthetic requirement, angulation and depth of placement, and spacing to neighboring teeth/implants are some of the critical issues for a successful outcome.
Dr. Woo has extensive experience with front tooth implants, and sometimes his solution is not to place an implant at a particular location. Knowing when not to do surgery is sometimes more important than knowing how to do surgery.
Full Mouth Implant Reconstruction
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Full mouth reconstructions cases are challenging in many regards, and this area requires clinicians to be knowledgeable, experienced, versatile, and skillful. Due to his long experience teaching residents in implant surgery, Dr. Woo has accumulated many complicated cases and treated many complications. He also understands how to work well with the restorative doctor who is an essential part of the team that treats these difficult cases.
Bone Grafting
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Many patients require bone grafting to have enough bone for dental implants. There are many techniques as well as bone grafting material available. However, the most desirable skill that transcends all bone grafting techniques is knowing what alternative technique to use, without bone grafting, that would allow the patient to have a successful treatment outcome.
Dr. Woo is able to perform bone grafting from the skull, jaws, hip, and lower leg, but he much prefer not to employ his skills with these procedures. He understands that less is more with surgery. In his opinion, bone grafting is not only adds cost and discomfort to patients, it also lessen the chance for a sucessful outcome compared to a implant without the need for bone grafting.
He favors a graft-less approach whenever possible by using bone expansion, jaw ridge splitting, using alternative implant sites, condensing bone, angulating the implants, changing the path of the implant, or eliminating high-risk implant sites by treatment planning alternatives. This is another area he will work closely with a patient’s restorative dentist to plan a graft-less alternative. Often times the alternative is found only by using CT imaging to visualize the jaw anatomy, and CT is currently the best technology offers in jaw bone imaging and implant planning.
All-On-Four
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Dental Implant is one of the most wonderful inventions and the best solution to replace missing teeth; however it is still out of reach by most patients due to the high cost or lack of bone in the jaws to receive dental implants. Conventionally and traditionally, to give a patient a fixed bridge to replace a jaw of missing teeth, as many as 8 to 10 implants are required. Often times patients do not even have enough bone for these many implants. Bone grafting would then be required, adding yet higher cost and complicity. A simplified and less costly approach is to place 4 implants in the front segment of the jaws to allow a fixed bridge, almost as long as a complete set of teeth in one jaw, to be provided to a patient. This procedure is fast becoming one of the most routine approach in our office for patients who qualify for it.