Implants: Why They’re the Best Choice for Replacing Missing Teeth
Your teeth are designed to last a lifetime, but decay, accidents, and disease may have other plans, forcing you to look for replacement options. If you want a replacement tooth that fills both form and function, dental implants stand above the rest, mimicking your lost tooth right down to its roots.
At VPreston Dental, Valerie Preston, DDS, and our team of dental experts offer a number of restorative solutions that help you preserve your dental health far into the future. Leading the pack are dental implants, which restore your line of teeth like no other option. Indeed, this dental solution only grows in popularity as more than half a million implants are placed each year in the United States.
Here’s a look at why dental implants are the superior choice for replacing missing teeth.
Down to the bone
When you lose a tooth, you’re not just losing what you see above your gumline — you’re also losing the roots that anchor your tooth into your jawbone. With a dental implant, we place a titanium post into your jawbone, allowing your bone to grow up and around it, fusing it into place.
While this approach to missing teeth provides you with incredible security, it also prevents bone loss. When you lose the roots of your tooth, your body registers the loss and inactivity in the area and ceases to create new bone tissue. So, not only do you lose your roots, the bone around where the roots once were can begin to deteriorate, causing your neighboring teeth to shift out of place.
This begets a new set of problems, all because of one missing tooth. And while partial dentures can fill in the gap in your smile, they don’t provide replacement roots to prevent bone loss.
Going the distance
Once we place the titanium post into your jawbone and your existing bone accepts and fuses it into place, we essentially have a new foundation from which to work. We place a crown over this implant, which is custom-manufactured to fit in seamlessly with your existing teeth. But should your crown wear down or break, we simply place a new one over your existing post.
For all intents and purposes, a dental implant provides you with a foundational structure for your replacement tooth that should last a lifetime.
Ease of care
With a dental implant, you don’t have to take any extra steps in your daily dental care. An implant isn’t removable, and once we bond the crown into place, you take care of your new tooth as you do all of your other teeth. There’s no need for special cleaning solutions or adhesives, and you don’t have the daily grind of removing your prosthetic teeth, cleaning them, and then placing them back in.
If you’d like to explore whether you’re a good candidate for a dental implant, we invite you to give us a call or use the easy online scheduling tool to set up an appointment.
