Implants
Replacing Missing Teeth
Dental implants are a modern and highly effective solution for replacing missing teeth, restoring both the functionality and the aesthetics of your smile. At Dr. Hugo Costa Lapa's practice, we use the prestigious Straumann implants, globally recognized for their quality, innovation, and exceptional success rates.
Every procedure begins with a detailed assessment of your oral health, allowing for an individualized treatment plan that ensures perfect integration of the implants with the bone, achieving excellence in oral rehabilitation. With Straumann implants, we guarantee high biocompatibility, stability, and long-lasting results, enabling patients to return to their daily lives with renewed confidence and well-being.
Our approach combines state-of-the-art technology with advanced techniques, providing safe and comfortable treatment focused on fully restoring chewing function and the aesthetic harmony of the smile. Discover how dental implants can enhance your quality of life.
Replacing a Single Tooth
Replacing a single missing tooth with a dental implant is a modern and effective solution that restores both the functionality and aesthetics of your smile. This treatment involves placing a dental implant, which acts as an artificial tooth root, ensuring secure integration with the bone and providing long-term stability.
The process begins with a detailed evaluation and diagnostic exams, allowing for an individualized treatment plan. After the implant is placed, a customized fixed dental prosthesis is later attached, designed to naturally replicate the look and function of the original tooth.
This approach not only restores chewing ability but also helps preserve bone structure. As a minimally invasive surgical treatment with long-lasting results, replacing a missing tooth with an implant represents an excellent option for anyone wishing to maintain a harmonious and healthy smile.
Replacing All Teeth
Replacing all teeth with dental implants is a complex and advanced solution for full oral rehabilitation. This procedure involves the placement of implants, which act as artificial roots, onto which fixed prostheses are later attached, restoring both chewing function and the aesthetics of the smile.
The treatment begins with a detailed evaluation of oral health and complementary diagnostic exams, allowing for individualized planning and the definition of the most appropriate protocol for each case. Once the implants have integrated into the maxillary and mandibular bone, the prostheses are carefully crafted to replicate the shape, color, and function of natural teeth.
This approach not only restores chewing ability and the confidence to smile, but also helps preserve bone structure, preventing its resorption. As a predictable treatment with long-lasting results, the complete replacement of teeth with implants represents an excellent option for those seeking a permanent, high-quality solution to restore oral health and overall quality of life.
Straumann® Implants
The Straumann brand is synonymous with excellence and innovation in the field of oral rehabilitation and implantology. Recognized worldwide, Straumann combines decades of research and development with the production of high-quality dental implants, renowned for their biocompatibility, stability, and natural integration with bone.
At Dr. Hugo Costa Lapa's practice, the choice of Straumann implants reflects an unwavering commitment to quality. By using a global reference in implantology, Dr. Hugo Costa Lapa ensures that every treatment is designed to provide patients with outstanding solutions that restore not only the functionality and aesthetics of the smile but also overall oral health.
The partnership with Straumann enables the use of advanced techniques that ensure perfect implant integration, preserve bone structure, and deliver reliable, effective oral rehabilitation. This investment in technology and excellence allows patients to benefit from treatments that combine innovation, precision, and natural-looking results—enhancing both confidence and quality of life.
Your Questions Answered
What is the lifespan of dental implants?
Just like natural teeth, dental implants require daily oral hygiene as well as regular maintenance visits—annually, every six months, or even every three months, depending on individual circumstances. When properly maintained and cleaned, dental implants can last for decades.
What is the All-on-4?
The All-on-4 - literally meaning "all on four" - is a treatment concept in which a full set of 14 teeth, in the form of a fixed bridge, is supported by just four dental implants acting as pillars.
The number of supporting implants for a complete fixed ceramic dentition may vary between four and six, depending on the quality and condition of the jawbone.
What types of dental implants are there?
There are hundreds of implant brands, but only two materials are used to manufacture them: titanium and zirconia. Titanium is by far the most widely used, representing around 99% of all implants produced and placed in dentistry.
There is no such thing as the "best" implant—only the most appropriate one for each case. Careful study and treatment planning are essential steps in choosing the right implant for your individual needs.
What are the steps of a dental implant treatment?
What are the steps of a dental implant treatment?
A dental implant treatment is usually carried out in three stages:
Diagnosis and treatment planning
This includes a full evaluation and cost estimate. In most cases, this is completed during the first consultation, unless additional radiological exams are required.Implant placement surgery
A minor surgical procedure is performed to place the implants into the bone. In many cases, temporary teeth are attached on the same day or within 48 hours after surgery.Final restoration
Three to six months later, once the implants have fully integrated with the bone, the permanent ceramic teeth are fixed onto the implants.
Is it possible to have fixed teeth placed on the same day as dental implants?
Yes, it is possible to place fixed teeth on the very same day as implant surgery. This procedure is called "immediate loading" and is recommended in cases where missing teeth compromise appearance, aesthetics, or chewing function.
The teeth placed on the day of surgery are temporary fixed teeth and will later be replaced with the final ceramic teeth, usually three to six months after surgery.
Who can - and who cannot - have dental implants?
Dental implants are an option for patients who are missing one or more teeth and who have sufficient bone availability to support them. Bone availability is assessed through radiological exams such as panoramic X-rays, CBCT, or CT scans.
Some patients, due to their medical condition, may present contraindications or an increased risk of implant failure. These include uncontrolled diabetes, radiotherapy, and certain psychiatric conditions that prevent patient cooperation, among others. However, these are not absolute contraindications. Each case must be carefully evaluated together with the dentist, the patient, and the relevant medical specialist.
Can dental implants be rejected?
The body does not reject dental implants, since they are made of specific materials (titanium or zirconia) that are not recognized as foreign by the immune system.
However, implants can occasionally fail to integrate with the bone—either shortly after placement or in the long term. These failures are rare and usually linked to well-identified factors such as poor initial planning, post-surgical complications, chronic infection of the tissues around the implant (peri-implantitis), smoking, poor oral hygiene, or inadequate maintenance.
Dental implants or dental bridges?
Both treatments are fixed, durable solutions for replacing missing teeth. However, each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages:
Fixed dental bridges: A faster treatment that does not involve surgery, but requires the preparation (reduction) of the healthy teeth adjacent to the missing tooth in order to support the bridge.
Dental implants: Involves a minor surgical procedure to place the implant in the bone, but preserves the integrity of the neighboring healthy teeth, as no reduction is needed.
Is it possible to have dental implants with general anesthesia?
Yes. At CUF Descobertas Hospital, where our practice is located, implant surgery can be performed under general anesthesia, ensuring maximum comfort. This is an excellent alternative for patients who experience fear or phobia of surgery or dental treatments.
Is it possible to pay for a dental implant treatment in installments?
Yes. After the first consultation, where the treatment plan and cost estimate are established, if full payment is not feasible, there is the option to divide the total into installment payments.
If I live abroad, is it possible to complete all stages of a dental implant treatment in a single trip?
A significant percentage of our patients live abroad. It is possible to organize the treatment so that both the first and second stages of dental implant therapy can be completed during a single trip.
The third stage—placement of the final fixed ceramic teeth—requires a healing period of 3 to 6 months after the implants are placed and must therefore be carried out during a second visit.
Both visits usually involve a stay of approximately one to two weeks.
Is it possible to place bone for a dental implant treatment?
Yes. In cases of severe bone deficiency that prevent the placement of dental implants, there are alternatives:
Bone grafting performed prior to implant placement, to rebuild sufficient bone volume.
Zygomatic implants, which are anchored in the bone above the upper jaw (zygoma), providing a secure foundation when traditional implants are not feasible.
How should dental implant treatments be maintained?
Fixed treatments with dental implants should be maintained through daily oral hygiene routines very similar to those for natural teeth, with slight adjustments explained during the consultation.
In addition, patients should attend an annual check-up with the dentist and regular hygiene appointments—annually, every six months, or even every three months—with the dental hygienist.