Due to injury or disease, patients can lose one or more teeth in a number of ways. While there are several restorative choices available, patients looking for a more permanent option to replace missing teeth should consider dental implants.
What Is a Dental Implant?
Dental implants are a permanent treatment for missing teeth. Usually made of titanium, dental implants will replace an absent tooth root. They provide a solid foundation for replacement teeth, like a crown or a bridge.
Dental implants are made to match the look and feel of your natural teeth, which is one of their many convenient benefits. They require the same type of care as your natural teeth, such as daily brushing and regular flossing, rinsing, and dental checkups.
Who Can Benefit from Dental Implants?
Candidates for implants can include anyone with missing teeth. Whether patients are missing one or many teeth, their dentists can offer many implant options, such as an “All-on-Four” implant for patients that are missing all of their upper or lower teeth.
Patients must be able to undergo oral surgeries or tooth extractions, have healthy gums, and sustain enough bone to support the implants in order to qualify for this treatment. Smokers and patients with chronic illnesses will need to be assessed on an individual basis.
How Can Implants Help My Smile?
There are many benefits to dental implants that can help restore normal oral function and improve the patient’s health. Dental implants help retain the look and feel of your natural teeth and smile. This can boost a patient’s self-esteem and overall confidence.
In addition to the many cosmetic benefits, dental implants impact a patient’s overall health for the better. Because a dental implant acts as a tooth root substitute, it keeps the adjacent teeth stable, preserves the health of the gums, and maintains the structure of the jawbone.
When a tooth is missing, the surrounding teeth can shift, and over time, the jawbone will begin to break down. Dental implants will help the mouth keep its solid structure.
How Do Implants Compare to Dentures?
If you would like a permanent tooth replacement treatment, you can ask your dentist about upgrading removable dentures to dental implants. Patients with secure implants in place will not have to worry about seeking new appliances if dentures have worn down.
These patients will enjoy the added comfort and convenience of dental implants too. Dentures can slip and move out of place while eating, creating trouble. Certain food can get stuck under the dentures too, causing irritation and discomfort. Dental implants allow the patient to eat and chew normally without this hassle.
While a patient with dentures may have to worry about messy adhesives, dental implants remove such issues. Dentists surgically place dental implants in the jaw, and over time, the implant will fuse with the bone, getting rid of the need for denture adhesives.
With poor-fitting dentures, it is common that patients can notice issues with speech. When dentures slip, it may cause a patient to mumble or to have slurred speech. With dental implants, there is no slipping, which means a patient can speak, sing, or shout without any concerns.