dental implants
The visible half: implant crowns, bridges, arches.
The post holds the tooth; the restoration is the tooth. A crown for one implant, a bridge across two or more, or a full fixed arch — this is the part you see in the mirror and use at dinner, so it's the part worth being exacting about.
At our Medical Park Drive office, restorations are designed digitally: an iTero Lumina scan captures the implant's position and your bite in three dimensions — no impression trays — and the crown or bridge is built to match the teeth around it in shade, shape, and how it meets its neighbors when you chew. Dr. Brian Podbesek checks the fit against your actual bite before you leave with it.
Crown, bridge, or arch — matching the restoration to the gap
One implant carries one crown: the cleanest replacement for a single missing tooth, and the neighbors are never touched. A longer gap usually gets an implant bridge — two or three posts supporting a row of teeth, restoring full chewing with fewer implants than teeth.
When an entire arch needs replacing, the restoration becomes either a snap-on overdenture or a fixed full-arch bridge — each has its own page, because each is its own decision. What they share is this office's rule: you see the plan, the timeline, and the written cost before anything starts.
Already have the implant? We restore it.
Plenty of patients arrive with a post already in place — placed years ago, placed by an oral surgeon, placed in another state — that needs its crown, or whose crown has worn out. We restore implants we didn't place. The scan tells us what system is in your jaw, and the new tooth is built to it.
The reverse also holds: if your placement happens with a surgeon we coordinate with in the Shenandoah Valley, the restoration and everything after it happen here, on the Augusta Health campus minutes from Staunton and Waynesboro — one team responsible for the finished tooth.
How long the tooth on top lasts
The post can last decades; the restoration works for a living. An implant crown typically serves ten to fifteen years before wear calls for replacement — same as any crown — and swapping it is a routine visit, not a new surgery. Regular cleanings matter doubly here: your hygienist checks the gum and bone around the implant at every visit, which is how small problems stay small.
Questions we hear in the chair
- Will the implant crown match my other teeth?
- Yes — shade and shape are matched to the teeth beside it from the digital scan, and you'll see and approve the result before it's final. Most people can't pick their implant crown out of the mirror after a month.
- Can you replace just the crown without touching the implant?
- Usually, yes. If the post is healthy and integrated, a worn or chipped crown comes off and a new one goes on — a far smaller project than the original treatment.
- Do implant restorations feel different from real teeth?
- Chewing feels remarkably normal — that's the point of anchoring to bone. The one honest difference: an implant has no nerve, so it won't feel hot or cold. Most patients stop noticing within weeks.
- How do I care for an implant crown or bridge?
- Brush and floss like a natural tooth, and keep your regular cleanings so we can watch the gum and bone around the post. Bridges and arches add cleaning underneath with a threader or water flosser — we'll show you before you leave.
Clinical content reviewed by Dr. Brian Podbesek, Lead Dentist.
On Medical Park Drive since 2014. .