Dental Implants for Berkeley Patients

Why Berkeley patients drive down to Piedmont for implants

An implant is not a single appointment. From the first X-rays to the finished crown it runs across several months and a number of visits, and the tooth then needs checking for as long as you have it. That makes the office more important than the brand of implant. Ours is owner-run: the dentist who examines you, plans the case and fits the final crown is one of the two co-owners, and the same two dentists see you for the cleanings and check-ups that keep the implant healthy afterwards.

The drive is shorter than most Berkeley patients expect. Elmwood, at College and Ashby, is about 2.8 miles from our door — around nine minutes without traffic — and Claremont is about 3.6 miles, or eleven minutes. From Downtown Berkeley or the UC campus it is roughly 4.3 to 4.4 miles and thirteen minutes; from North Berkeley, about 4.9 miles and fifteen. On a treatment that spans months, those minutes matter less than seeing the same faces at every visit.

What happens here: the consultation, digital and panoramic X-rays, the planning, the impressions, the fittings and the final crown. The surgical placement of the implant post is coordinated by the practice, so you are not left to assemble your own team.

How dental implants work here

An implant is a small titanium post placed in the jaw to do the job of a root. The American Dental Association describes implants as posts, made of titanium and other body-compatible materials, that are surgically placed in the upper or lower jaw and act as a sturdy anchor for a replacement tooth; what makes them strong is that the bone grows around the post and holds it, a process called osseointegration (ADA MouthHealthy).

Treatment starts with a complimentary consultation with Dr. Martenson or Dr. Ma. We take digital and panoramic X-rays and, where the case needs it, a 3D scan, to measure the bone, the gum tissue and the space available — then tell you plainly whether an implant is the right tool, or whether a bridge, a denture or a graft first would serve you better. From there, the steps are:

• Placement: with the area numbed, the implant post is set into the bone, then left to heal and fuse with it for up to six months.
• A second stage, for some implant types: a short procedure to attach the post that will carry the tooth. Other designs place the anchor and the post together, so this step is skipped.
• The crown: after several weeks of healing, Dr. Martenson or Dr. Ma takes impressions and the artificial tooth is made and fitted to the post. Because it may take several fittings to get the bite and the shade right, this stage can run one to two months.
• Aftercare: written care instructions when the tooth is fitted, then routine cleanings and check-ups with the same two dentists.

Who dental implants are for

The ADA's rule of thumb is that general health matters more than age: if you are in good health, an implant may be an option for you (ADA MouthHealthy). In our practice the two things we look for are enough jawbone to hold the post and healthy gums around it. Implants suit people who want to:

• Replace one tooth, or several, without grinding down the healthy teeth on either side.
• Stop the neighboring teeth drifting into the gap, which can upset the bite and strain the jaw joint.
• Chew, speak and digest normally again.
• Support the cheeks and lips where a missing tooth has let the face fall in.
• Anchor a loose partial or full denture so it stays put.
• Finish with a tooth that is shaded and shaped to match the ones beside it.

When we'll tell you an implant isn't the answer

Some of the honest conversations happen at the first visit. If you have been missing the tooth for years and the bone has shrunk, a bone graft may need to come first, which adds three to four months before the post can go in; we will say so, and explain the alternative if you would rather not wait. If a chronic illness such as diabetes is not well controlled, the ADA notes it may interfere with healing after surgery, and some patients with these conditions are not good candidates (ADA MouthHealthy).

Smoking is the one we are most direct about. A 2021 meta-analysis in the journal Medicina, pooling 292 studies and more than 150,000 implants, found that implants in smokers failed at 2.4 times the odds of those in non-smokers and lost more bone around the post (Mustapha, Salame and Chrcanovic, 2021). The ADA puts it more simply: tobacco slows healing (ADA MouthHealthy). We do not turn smokers away, but we tell you the numbers before you decide.

Implants vs bridges vs dentures

A bridge replaces the missing tooth by anchoring a false one to the teeth on either side, which have to be filed down to take crowns. An implant stands alone: the neighboring teeth are untouched, and the post stimulates the jawbone the way a natural root does, which is why the bone around it holds up. The bridge is quicker — nothing is placed in the bone, so there are no months of healing — and for some mouths it remains the sensible choice; the consultation is where we say which.

A removable denture is the least invasive option and the least secure. Where several teeth are missing, implants and dentures are not rivals: the ADA notes that custom bridges or dentures can be made to fit your mouth and your implants (ADA MouthHealthy), and a denture anchored to implants stays put in a way a conventional one cannot. Which of the three fits you depends on the bone available, the health of the neighboring teeth, how long you want the result to last and what you are prepared to go through to get it — we lay those out side by side rather than lead with the most expensive option.

What the timeline looks like

Most single-tooth cases run four to six months from placement to finished crown. The post needs three to six months to fuse with the bone before it can carry a tooth, and cases that need a graft first add three to four months. Placement itself is done under local anesthesia; most patients describe less discomfort than a tooth extraction, with mild soreness for three to five days that over-the-counter pain relief handles.

Counted in trips from Berkeley, expect the consultation, the placement, a possible second stage, several impression and fitting visits, the day the crown goes on, and then the ordinary six-monthly check-ups. Because the visits are spread across months rather than bunched together, most Berkeley patients fold them into a working day: nine to thirteen minutes each way from Elmwood, Ashby or Downtown, without traffic.

Living with an implant

The post is titanium, but the gum and bone around it can still get sick, in the same way a natural tooth's can. The American Academy of Periodontology calls this peri-implant disease. In its milder form, peri-implant mucositis, the inflammation is confined to the gum with no bone loss, and it is reversible if caught early; in peri-implantitis the bone supporting the implant starts to break down, and treatment usually means surgery. The warning signs are the same as gum disease — red or tender gums around the implant, or bleeding when you brush — and the risk factors it lists are a previous diagnosis of gum disease, poor plaque control, smoking and diabetes (American Academy of Periodontology).

The routine is the one you already know. Implants need regular brushing, flossing and professional check-ups just as teeth do (American Academy of Periodontology), so brush twice a day, floss around the implant as you would a tooth, and keep the six-monthly visits, where we check the gum and the bone level on X-rays. We may suggest a water flosser or a small interdental brush for the implant area. One habit to drop: using a front implant to bite ice, pen caps or anything else hard.

Getting here from Berkeley

We are at 1331 Grand Avenue, Piedmont — a two-storey building with the practice on the upper level and the parking entrance below it. The address is shared with The Oldershaw Clinic, so look for our sign on the railing, then follow the planted walkway from the parking area to the front door.

• Driving: about 2.8 miles from Elmwood (College and Ashby) and 3.3 miles from Ashby BART, each around nine minutes without traffic; about 3.6 miles and eleven minutes from Claremont (Ashby and Domingo); about 4.3 miles and thirteen minutes from Downtown Berkeley BART, 4.4 miles from the UC Berkeley campus, and 4.9 miles and fifteen minutes from North Berkeley at Shattuck and Vine.
• Parking: street parking is generally available on Grand Avenue near our entrance.
• By bus: AC Transit's Line 88 runs from Downtown Berkeley along University Avenue, Sacramento Street and Market Street, through Downtown Oakland, to Highland Avenue at Highland Way in Piedmont, about a mile from the office. Line 12, from Gilman and 6th, comes down via Martin Luther King Jr Way, Temescal and Piedmont Avenue to Grand and Euclid, about three-quarters of a mile below us; it does not climb into Piedmont.
• By BART: Ashby and Downtown Berkeley are the Berkeley stations. From either, the office is a short drive.

Cost and coverage, without the runaround

Nobody can quote an implant honestly over the phone, because the price depends on whether a graft is needed, the type of implant and how many teeth are involved. For a sense of scale, Delta Dental puts the cost of an individual implant to replace a single tooth, without dental benefits, at $2,800 to $5,600 — a figure that typically includes the surgical placement, the supporting structure for the crown and the crown itself (Delta Dental). Bay Area fees run above these national figures. See our current fees on the Dental Implants page. Grafts and multiple implants are priced case by case.

On coverage, Delta Dental's own guidance is that many dental benefit plans help with the cost of implants but some do not, and that Medicare and Medicaid usually do not cover them, though certain Medicare Advantage plans might (Delta Dental). The real number comes in writing after the consultation and X-rays, not over the phone, and CareCredit financing is available if you would rather spread the balance.