If you happen to be missing one or more teeth, this procedure is perfect for you. Once you have procured a dental implant, you will be able to enhance your chewing abilities, eat your favorite foods and augment your appearance. Your teeth are an important part of your facial traits and play an intrinsic part in the impressions you make. Most of the time, a person’s smile is their business card and by submitting yourself to a dental implant, this can help you boost your self-esteem and confidence, changing the way you relate to others.
A dental implant can be used to replace a single missing tooth, restore and entire smile and provide a more permanent solution to replace other solutions to missing teeth like dentures or dental bridges. Periodontal disease can cause tooth loss and with tooth loss your self esteem is affected and your confidence is lost.
Dental implants are a great alternative for people who are in generally good oral health that have lost their teeth due to an accident or have lost a single tooth or teeth due to peridontal disease. Single tooth implants actually rely on your other teeth for support so they can be a tooth saving solution in many ways.
Dental implants have improved drastically over the past decade with improvements to implant technology.
Materials have improved and implant education is better than ever. What are dental implants?
They are artificial teeth that are an alternative to dentures or dental bridges.
They are a more permanent solution and have many benefits that far exceed the advantages of
dentures or bridges.
Do you experience some of the following issues with your dentures or bridges?
- When eating foods do your dentures shift and click so that it is uncomfortable?
- Have you ever been public speaking and had issues where your bridge or denture was shifting and making it uncomfortable to speak?
- Do you wish you could eat more steak and comfortably bite into an apple without fear of your denture becoming loose.
- Are you embarassed to smile?
- Have you been experiencing bone loss or gum recession since wearing dentures or having a dental bridge?
- Have your dentures ever cracked or made it uncomfortable to fit.
- Do you feel like you’ve lost the smile you had when you had your natural teeth?
Dental Implants are advantageous because…
- They are the best choice for replacing missing teeth without affecting bordering teeth. As the jawbone shrinks, your chewing efficiency is reduced even more, making it difficult to eat certain foods. Dental implants, on the other hand, can restore chewing efficiency comparable to that of natural teeth. This allows you to eat your favorite foods with confidence and without pain.
- They preserve the jawbone and prevent bone loss.
- They fuse with the jawbone and therefore, do not harm adjacent teeth. Fixed bridges, even for the replacement of a single tooth, may require the cutting down or shaping of adjacent, healthy teeth in order to give the bridge something to adhere to.
- They improve the quality of life for adults of all ages, allowing patients to talk, eat, smile and live confidently and comfortably.
- They are so natural-looking and feeling; you may forget you ever lost a tooth since they are anchored securely to your jawbone. Gum irritation and the pain of exposed nerves associated with conventional full or partial dentures are eliminated.
Benefits of Dental Implants
Appearance - dental implants look far more esthetic as they are situated in to the structure of your bone and will prevent bone loss and further gum recession. The implants look and act more like your natural teeth as compared to loose fitting dentures and ill fitting bridgework.
Increased Confidence and Self Esteem - Lets face it those pastes and denture powders can be a pain to have to use on a daily basis. Think about it, have you ever been somewhere where you forgot your denture paste and had to make a last minute trip to the pharmacy. With dental implants you no longer have to worry about your dentures slipping and cracking while eating or speaking. The look and act like your natural teeth and are secure.
Reliabilty - success rates for dental implants are very high and the longevity of a implant restoration can be a lifetime. Of course good oral health, healthy gum tissue and good bone structure help increase the effectiveness.
Who Places Dental Implants?
Placing the titanium implant screws into your jawbone are often done by an oral surgoen, periodontist or prosthodontist however, some general dentists have taken extensive dental implant courses and perform there own surgeries. Other dentists choose to restore the implants that have already been placed by a specialist. Common sense prevails, make sure you choose a dentist that performs dental implant cases on a regular basis. Ask to see their before and after cases and check credentials. One of the leading dental implant schools is the Misch Institute started by Carl Misch, DDS. He runs a leading implant dentistry training school that has trained well over 2000 dentists how to utilize dental implants in their practices.
Dental Implants
Before dental implants emerged, dentures and removable bridges revealed problems such as instability.
Dental implants — metal screws placed below the gums and infused to the jaw bone— serve as a foundation for dentures or removable bridges. The titanium posts anchor to the jawbone. Replacement teeth are then cemented into the posts.
When dental implants surfaced in dentistry, general construction time for the new dental prosthesis consisted of three months for the lower jaw and six months in the upper jaw. After the designated times, the implants would be able to support the new dental prosthesis. Now, with better tools, some patients can receive implants at a much quicker pace.
Initially, dental implant surgery involves placing the anchor. Dental implant surgery may take up to several hours. Patients can expect to wait up to six months for the bone to grow around the placed anchor and secure it. In some cases, a second surgery takes place in which a post is placed to connect the anchor to the replacement teeth. Other dental implant surgeries place the anchor and the post simultaneously. When the gums heal, artificial natural looking teeth are created and constructed to the post section of the anchor. This step in the surgical procedure may require a couple months to complete since the patient can expect several fittings.
Patients receive anesthesia before the surgical placement of dental implants. When the anesthesia deteriorates, about three or four hours later, some patients experience pain and discomfort such as swelling. Pain intensity varies from patient to patient. Prolonged pain should be reported, as the improper placement of dental implants requires removal.
Dental implants require proper maintenance including regular brushing, flossing and dental visits.
Who is a Candidate for Dental Implants?
The ideal candidate for dental implant surgery possesses good general and oral health. Candidates should
also have sufficient bone in the jaw in order to support the implant.
Some medical factors limit a person’s chance of being a good candidate for dental implants. These
factors include:
- Diabetes
- Chemotherapy or radiation therapy
- Parathyroid disorders
- Blood disorders
- Bone marrow cancer
One of the most common reasons why people consider dental implants stems from difficulty chewing and talking due to a sliding denture.
Those who are able to receive regular dental care can successfully use dental implants. Those who fail to possess sufficient bone may receive bone grafting procedures. Grafting procedures consist of substituting missing bone in the jaw with bone material from the patient’s body or an artificial or synthetic replacement. This grafting procedure may also aid the body to re-grow lost bone.
The ideal site for the extra bone material stems from the patient’s own body, with the hip as the most common area. In severe cases, however, bone material can come from the patient’s mouth. In some cases, factors from the patient’s blood can encourage bone formation in the grafted areas.