Listen or Read Dr. Vitale’s Monthly Podcast Interview!
Topic – Implants and Bridges
Below you will find an easy to read transcript of Dr. John Vitale’s interview on the razorcast™ monthly podcast. You can either play the video to listen to the podcast or simply read the easy to follow transcript below. Enjoy!
Podcast Interview:
RC: Hello everyone, this is Liz Harvey coming to you from our razorcast™ studios in New York City where we are dedicated to bringing you top quality advice from many of the leading expert professionals across the United States.
In today’s episode, we are speaking with Dr. John Vitale. Dr. Vitale is the founder of Dr. John R. Vitale, DMD at Port Liberte, a general dentistry and cosmetic dentistry practice in Jersey City, New Jersey. He has an extensive dental background that began at Iona College and then at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Vitale has been practicing in the area for over 35 years and is currently a member of the International Congress of Implantology. He is also certified in BOTOX® and dermal fillers and he continues his education in the dental field with monthly classes. Dr. Vitale has also had the pleasure of traveling to Honduras and Panama to provide charity dental care to needy patients.
Dr. Vitale is widely considered to be one of the top dentists in the country and he is also a contributing member of our national network of industry professionals.
Today we are going to talk about a very important topic: Implants and Bridges
RC: Hi Dr. Vitale. How are you today?
Dr. John Vitale: I’m fine, how are you?
RC: I’m doing great. Thanks so much.
Question 1: What is a dental implant and why would someone need one?
RC: So please explain what a dental implant is and why someone would need one.
Dr. John Vitale: Dental implants are artificial roots that are placed in people’s mouths to replace teeth that are missing. Think of an implant in layman’s terms as a molly you would put in a wall. The molly would have a center that’s open and you would be able to put a screw in it so that the screw and the molly would hold together. Same thing in the mouth. The implant goes in the bone and the center has an opening in it that we screw in an abutment or a portion of tooth-like material that exits the gum line and is above the gum line. And above all of that or onto all of that, we place an artificial tooth. So in layman’s terms, we use it to just replace single teeth or multiple teeth in people’s mouths.
Question 2: What is the process for getting a dental implant? Can you get more than one at a time?
RC: Okay and what is the process for getting a dental implant and can you get more than one at a time?
Dr. John Vitale: Yes, you can get more than one at a time and the process is rather simple. If we’re talking about one implant, generally the dentist will give a local anesthetic. A series of drills are used to enter the bone, widen the bone, so that the custom fitted implant will fit and will be screwed into the bone – just as you would screw something into a wall. Once that’s done, it’s covered. You go on your merry way and a couple of months later after the bone is attached to the implant, the dentist will go back in, unveil the top of the implant and screw that second piece in that we spoke about – the one that comes above the gum line and onto that we would place your crown or your cap.
RC: Okay.
Dr. John Vitale: And more than one implant can be done at a time, I’m sorry.
RC: Oh good I was wondering. Okay good.
Question 3: There are different types of bridges, can you explain them and the benefits of each?
RC: Okay so there are different types of bridges, can you explain them and the benefits of each type?
Dr. John Vitale: Well generally, there are a couple of types of bridges. The differences in the bridges are generally the differences in the materials used to fabricate the bridges. We have a bridge made out of what we call a PFM. It’s a porcelain bonded to a metal. We have bridges that are all metal and we have bridges that are all porcelain.
For different reasons, aesthetics for instance, one would only try to place bridges that are all porcelain in the front of people’s mouths so you wouldn’t have that graying effect at the gum line that people get after a period of time when they have PFM’s or porcelain fused to metal type bridges.
In the posterior region or the back portion of people’s mouths, if there are a lot of teeth missing and the span for the bridge is kind of long, then we would want to have a bridge that would be supported by metal so we would probably do a PFM or a porcelain fused to metal type bridge.
Both serve perfectly well for the circumstances that they are used but for aesthetic purposes, you may want to do all porcelain up front and a combination of porcelain and metal in the posterior regions.
Question 4: Could you describe the process of getting a bridge and how long it takes?
RC: Okay. Can you describe the process of getting a bridge and how long that takes. I know we talked about dental implants but in terms of the bridge or different types of bridges how long does that process take?
Dr. John Vitale: Well generally, the first appointment would be rather simple. The dentist would administer a local anesthetic. Once you’re all numbed up, we would take a primary impression. The primary impression would be an impression of your teeth when you came into the office before we started the procedure.
Then what we would do is prepare your teeth that are going to be incorporated in your bridge. We would take a final impression and after that’s done. We would take a bite and then after that procedure, what we would do is we would give you back the teeth that you came into the office with. That primary impression would be filled with a plastic material and we would put that back in your mouth. When it was all set up and it was all finished, we would remove the impression material.
You would have a covering over your teeth that you came into the office with and then you would wait about two weeks or so. In approximately two weeks, the lab would fabricate a final product.
You would come back. Most of the times you would not get a local anesthetic, sometimes you would need to. But we would remove those artificial teeth that we put in your mouth and we would cement in your permanent bridge, adjust your bite and you’d be on your way.
Question 5: How long do bridges and implants last or how often do you need to replace them?
RC: Great. How long do bridges and implants last or how often do you need to replace them?
Dr. John Vitale: The national average for the life expectancy of a bridge in this country, I believe, is around ten years. However, if you take care of your bridges and you don’t develop periodontal disease, you could probably keep a bridge for 30 or 40 in your mouth.
I’ve seen them. I have them in my practice here where I’ve done them 35 years ago and they’re still in people’s mouths. So a lot depends on the individual. And a lot depends on your medical condition but if you keep yourself in good shape and you keep your mouth in good shape, the chances are pretty good that your bridge is going to be in good shape for a long time.
RC: Great well that was the last question I have so thank you so much! We know you’re extremely busy so I just want to thank you for your time and help today.
Dr. John Vitale: Thank you.
RC: And for our listeners across the country, if you are interested in speaking with Dr. John Vitale, you can either go online at www.drjohnrvitale.com or call 201-521-9800 to schedule an appointment.
On behalf of our entire team at razorcast™, we want to thank you for listening and we look forward to bringing you more top quality content from our country’s leading industry professionals.
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