Everything patients ask, answered honestly

Yes. Your consultation includes an exam with Dr. Poovey, X-rays and a written treatment plan with a real number on it. There's no cost, no deposit and no obligation to schedule treatment afterward.

No. You can book directly. If another dentist has referred you, bring their notes and any X-rays — even old ones are useful.

Allow about an hour. Longer if you're travelling in from out of town and we can get more done in one trip — tell us when you book.

Your insurance card, any recent X-rays or treatment plans from another dentist, a list of your medications, and your questions written down. People forget them in the chair.

We accept most medical and dental insurance and will work to maximise your benefits. We do not accept Medicaid. Bring your card and we'll verify coverage before you decide anything.

Regularly — from Fruita, Palisade, Clifton, Delta, Montrose, Rifle and Glenwood Springs. Say you're travelling when you book and we'll block a longer appointment.

A titanium post placed into the jawbone in place of a missing tooth root. Bone grows onto its surface over several months — osseointegration — and a crown is then attached on top.

Implants are designed to be permanent, and published survival rates are commonly reported above 95% at ten years. The crown on top is a wearing part and may need replacing sooner. Hygiene is the main variable within your control.

Most failures happen early, when the implant doesn't integrate with the bone. Later failures are usually peri-implantitis — inflammation of the gum and bone around the implant, driven by plaque. Smoking and uncontrolled diabetes both raise the risk of each.

Placement is done under local anaesthetic and most patients find it easier than the extraction that preceded it. Soreness and swelling for a few days afterwards are normal and manageable with medication. Sedation is available.

Grafting rebuilds bone volume where it has been lost, so an implant has something solid to sit in. Whether you need it depends on your 3D scan. Angled placement, particularly in full-arch cases, sometimes avoids it entirely.

They're cheaper and less invasive, and they have a legitimate role — usually stabilising a lower denture where bone is thin. Asked to do a standard implant's job in a load-bearing position, narrow-diameter implants carry higher failure rates. If a quote looks unusually low, ask which diameter it's for.

Titanium has decades of published outcome data behind it and remains the standard. Zirconia implants are newer; the long-term evidence base is thinner. That's a reason for caution, not a verdict.

Yes, but it changes the plan. Grinding puts substantial load on implants and restorations, and a night guard usually becomes part of the treatment rather than an optional extra. Mention it at your consultation — it's easy to forget and it matters.

A full arch of fixed teeth supported by four implants placed at angles chosen to use your best available bone. It replaces every tooth in the jaw with one bridge rather than many separate restorations.

In most cases, yes — a fixed temporary bridge is attached the day the implants are placed. Occasionally the bone is soft enough that the implants must be left to integrate first, and an interim denture is used. Your scan tells us which before treatment day.

No. The same-day bridge is a working temporary — it looks good and functions well, but it's acrylic and it can chip. Your final bridge, in a stronger material, is fitted after integration at around four to six months.

Soft foods for the integration period. You can eat from day one, but movement is the enemy of osseointegration. We'll give you a specific progression rather than a vague warning.

Plan on four to seven days for most people. Swelling and bruising are at their worst in the first two or three days, and speech and eating take a little longer to feel normal.

Yes — that's normal with a fixed arch. Rinsing and a daily water flosser handle it once your dentist clears you to start using one, usually a few weeks after placement.

Usually not. Full-arch treatment needs implants in specific positions and angles, and existing ones rarely happen to be where the plan requires. It's assessed case by case on the scan.

Acrylic temporaries can chip or crack — it's not a disaster and repairs are usually quick. Call the office; don't try to fix it at home.

Most people eat comfortably within a few weeks and speak normally within two or three. Immediate dentures take longer — around six months — because the mouth is still changing shape underneath them.

There's nothing for it to hold onto. Uppers get suction from the palate; lowers sit on a narrow ridge with the tongue and cheeks working against them. Two implants is the reliable fix.

A denture placed the same day your teeth are removed, so you're never without teeth. It also acts as a dressing over the extraction sites. It needs relining as your gums heal.

Adding material inside the denture to restore fit as your ridge changes shape. Soft relines cushion during healing; a hard reline is the more permanent version, usually around six months after extractions.

A denture brush with mild antibacterial soap or denture cleaner, daily. Not regular toothpaste — it's abrasive enough to scratch acrylic. Clean over a towel or a basin of water so a drop doesn't break them.

No. Take them out, let your gums rest, and store them in water — never hot water, which warps acrylic permanently.

An upper denture covers the palate, where some taste perception happens. It's expected and it fades as you adapt. An implant-supported option with reduced or no palate coverage avoids most of it.

Yes — and the giveaways are always the same three things: teeth too white, too uniform, or too big for the face. Shade and shape are chosen with you and approved before the final set is made.

Every surgical procedure is done with local anaesthetic, so you should not feel pain during treatment. Sedation options for patients who want the appointment itself to be easier are discussed at your consultation — tell us that anxiety is part of the picture and it will shape the plan. If you have sedation, you will need someone to drive you home.

Significant bleeding stops before you leave the office. Light oozing for one to three days is normal. Biting on damp gauze — or a damp black tea bag, where the tannins help clotting — settles most of it.

Swelling usually peaks around day two or three and then subsides over one to two weeks. Ice in the first 24 hours makes a real difference. Swelling that worsens after day three, or fever, is worth a phone call.

Your mouth is treating a new prosthesis as a foreign object. It settles in two or three days, without exception.

Not immediately — the pressure can disturb healing tissue. Wait until your dentist clears you, typically around six weeks after implant placement.

Ice packs, soft foods you actually like, disposable cloths, comfortable clothes and something undemanding to watch. Fill your prescriptions before the appointment, not after it.

Pain that worsens rather than improves after day three, swelling that increases after day three, fever, bleeding that won't settle with pressure, or a prosthesis that suddenly moves when it didn't before. Call rather than wait — small problems are far easier to fix early.

No. A New You is an implant and denture practice — that is the bulk of what we do. We also have a board-certified periodontist on the team, so periodontal surgery is something we provide in addition, both for our own patients and for patients referred to us by other dentists.

Three additional years of surgical residency after dental school, devoted to the gum and bone that support teeth. In practice that means the cases at the edge of general dentistry: pockets that haven't responded to cleaning, recession with almost no attached tissue left, bone that needs rebuilding, and teeth that sit on the line between saving and replacing.

It is the most ignored warning sign in dentistry. Healthy gums don't bleed. Bleeding means inflammation, and inflammation that goes below the gumline starts removing bone — usually without any pain at all. It is very treatable early and much less so late.

Stage (I–IV) is how much damage has already happened. Grade (A–C) is how fast it's moving, adjusted for smoking and diabetes. Two people at the same stage can need very different care because their grades differ. Ask for both numbers — any periodontist will give them to you. More on the periodontal care page.

Gingivitis, yes — completely. Periodontitis can be stopped and stabilised, but bone already lost does not return on its own, and only certain defect shapes can be regenerated. Realistically it is managed for life, which is why the three-month maintenance cycle matters as much as the surgery.

Associations are well documented, and the relationship with diabetes runs both ways — uncontrolled blood sugar worsens gum disease and untreated gum disease makes blood sugar harder to control. These are associations rather than proven cause and effect, and you should be sceptical of anyone who overstates it. If you have either condition, treating your gums is not cosmetic.

It depends on remaining bone, where the defect sits and what the tooth does in your bite. Sometimes keeping it five more years is right; sometimes it costs you the bone you'd need for an implant later. Having a periodontist and an implant dentist in one practice means that gets answered in one appointment instead of two opinions a month apart.

Usually far better than it covers implants. Deep cleaning, periodontal surgery and periodontal maintenance are standard benefits on most dental plans. We verify your coverage before treatment.

See the cost page for ranges and what drives them. Your exact, itemised figure comes in writing at your free consultation, before anything is scheduled.

It varies by plan. Many policies contribute toward extractions and part of the restoration even when they exclude the implant itself, and annual maximums can sometimes be spread across two calendar years. We verify your specific benefits before you decide.

No. We accept most other medical and dental insurance and will work to maximise it.

Yes. Third-party financing spreads treatment into a fixed monthly payment, and the application is handled at the office. HSA and FSA funds can generally be used too. Ask at your free consultation and you will know what you qualify for before deciding anything.

Usually implant diameter, restoration material, whether extractions and grafting are included, whether sedation is included, or whether the quote covers the final restoration at all. Bring their plan to your free consultation and we'll compare it line by line — including telling you if theirs is the better deal.

Bring it to your free consultation and we will go through it with you line by line — implant diameter and brand, what is included, what the final restoration is made of. Sometimes the difference is real value and we will tell you so. Sometimes the two quotes are not describing the same treatment at all, which is worth knowing before you commit either way.