Because of advances in dental science in the last two decades, dental implants have become a viable alternative for replacing missing teeth. The dentists at Personal Care Dentistry have extensive experience and excellent success rates in using implants to help patients replace teeth, relieve pain, restore chewing ability and improve facial tissues in the process. Dental implants are natural looking, secure and durable, lasting for years to come.
Your dentist at Personal Care Dentistry can evaluate your dental needs and let you know if dental implants would be the right solution for your unique case. They will thoroughly examine your existing teeth and bones, your lower and upper jaws, and your gum before recommending implants. Most patients with adequate bone mass can qualify for dental implants, although it varies among individuals. Typically an X-ray and CT-scan are performed to determine if you have enough bone to place the implant, as well as to verify the size and kind of implant that should be placed.
If the implant site does not have enough bone volume to support the appropriate-sized implant, you will need a bone graft. Bone loss can be the result from periodontal disease, injuries, cysts, infections or an extracted tooth. Bone grafts are very safe and effective in the dental implant restoration. Once it is placed, it will help replace missing bone, stimulate bone formation and increase bone volume.
Structurally, dental implants are titanium-based posts that are surgically positioned into the jawbone beneath your gums where a lost tooth’s root once lived. During the following three to six months, your bones grow around and adapt to the implant as if they were natural roots. Once the implants are firmly in place and the surrounding gum tissue is strong, they are ready to support a crown or restored tooth. Implants can also be used to support full or partial dentures, dramatically improving denture retention and stability. When the process is completed, the “new” teeth are often hard to tell apart from a patient’s original teeth.
Because implants fuse to your jawbone, they provide stable support for artificial teeth. Dentures and bridges mounted to implants won’t slip or shift in your mouth an especially important benefit when eating and speaking. This secure fit helps the dentures and bridges as well as individual crowns placed over implants feel more natural than conventional bridges or dentures.
For some people, ordinary bridges and dentures are simply not comfortable or even possible, due to sore spots, poor ridges or gagging. In addition, ordinary bridges must be attached to teeth on either side of the space left by the missing tooth. An advantage of implants is that no adjacent teeth need to be prepared or ground down to hold your new replacement tooth/teeth in place.
If you would like more information about dental implants and if they are the right solution for your oral health needs, make an appointment for a free implant consultation with the dentists at Personal Care Dentistry.
SOURCE: American Dental Association, Colgate.com