Welcome to the Cosmetic and Implant Dental Center

By Marc Jennings

"I just want a pretty smile," Meg Shepherd (not her real name) says. "That's my main thing, to have a nice smile."

Some smiles are beautiful even before you can see them. One is the smile belonging to Meg Shepard. You can hear it lighting up her voice.

Soon its glow will show more brightly on her face as well. In May, Shepard, 37, will realize a long-time dream: She will have a dental procedure to replace a few missing and broken teeth with implants. These are artificial teeth Dr. Jack Hahn of Cosmetic and Implant Dental Center of Cincinnati surgically places in her mouth.

Stronger Teeth can mean Better Health

Dental implants are a way to a great smile, and they also may be a way to better overall health. Foods that might not have been on the menu may now join a patient's diet. Shepard says that for years she has been careful of what she eats; however, implants will be sturdy enough for a bite into an apple.

"I think I'm probably going to be able to eat better," she says.

At least one other area of life becomes more normal, too: day-to-day home dental care. Those with implants perform normal daily brushing and flossing, and, like those with natural teeth, they visit the dentist to have their teeth cleaned and polished two to three times a year. Dr. Hahn says people who get implants trade their denture adhesive for a toothbrush.

A Teenage Accident

While Shepard says she doesn't have a bad smile now, she does have a partial plate. In a mishap when she was a teen-ager, she broke off two front teeth - an incident she calls "devastating."

From time to time over the years, Shepard checked into implants. But she put off having the procedure while raising three children alone, making sure they had the care they needed. Now, she said, she feels that it's her turn

Her procedure will include implants for these two teeth, and perhaps two others, along with crowns for some. "That way, it all blends together," Shepard says. "You want to look like you have a natural smile, not a perfect smile."

An Anchoring Device Topped With a Tooth

Dr. Hahn, says implants are anchoring devices set into the bone of the jaw. The actual teeth go on top of these. They may be removable or permanent; the patient's bone is a determining factor in the doctor's recommendation. Sometimes, if a tooth's prognosis over five years is not favorable, the dentist will advise a patient to have a tooth extracted and an implant put in while the bone is still good.

A Science and an Art

Dr. Hahn, who performed the Cincinnati area's first dental implant procedure in 1970, developed Replace, the second-largest selling implant in the world.

"The surface that I use on the implants has titanium as the base metal," Dr. Hahn says. "That is then coated with what we call a hydroxyapatite."

Hydroxyapatite has the same composition as bone, and it bonds to the bone of the jaw, something a living tooth's periodontal ligament doesn't allow.

The replacement teeth themselves are porcelain. This wear-resistant and discoloration-resistant ceramic material is baked over a platinum substructure. The teeth are designed to mimic the color and highlights of natural teeth - and patients report that they even feel like them, Dr. Hahn says.

Because Cosmetic and Implant Dental Center has its own laboratory an technical staff, they can oversee every aspect of the procedure from designing the implants, to making them, to actually doing the implant procedure. "We get to have cosmetic and quality control," says Dr. Hahn.

The result? A smile to the face and to the spirit. "I think it's going to help my self-esteem," says Shepard.