When Are Dental Implants Necessary?
When you lose one or more teeth, your oral health may be at risk if you don’t replace what’s lost. Dental implants may be necessary to maintain your oral health. Keep reading to learn why.
Nobody wants to lose their permanent teeth, but about 178 million American adults are missing at least one tooth, and 40 million are missing all of their teeth.
If you’re missing permanent teeth, you may be considering your replacement options. Whether you have one missing tooth or several missing teeth, dental implants make the ideal replacement choice.
At Russell Family Dentistry, in Tomball, Texas, our experienced dentist, Louis Russell Jr., DDS, provides high-quality dental care using the most advanced dental treatments available. We use dental implants to replace missing teeth and provide a strong foundation for dental crowns, dental bridges, and implant-supported dentures.
Why do we think dental implants make the best choice for replacing your missing teeth? Because they offer many health benefits.
Nothing is better for your oral health than your real teeth. Your natural teeth do more than just help you chew food. The act of chewing actually improves the health and strength of your jawbone by stimulating the growth of new bone.
When you lose a tooth, the bone no longer gets stimulation, leading to bone loss that affects the structure of your jawbone and facial features. This is why you may see facial changes like sagging cheeks and a smaller chin in people who wear dentures.
Dental implants are tooth root replacements surgically implanted into your jawbone. When you chew, the implant stimulates the bone just like your natural teeth would, reminding your jawbone to keep producing bone cells and maintaining the normal structure of your jaw.
If you’re only missing one tooth and it’s in the back of your mouth where no one can see it, you may be tempted to let the missing tooth go. But your teeth rely on each other to maintain their position in your mouth.
When you have a gap from one missing tooth, the other teeth shift, moving toward the gap and creating all sorts of alignment problems for your remaining teeth.
One missing tooth in your lower jaw also affects the teeth in your upper jaw, and vice versa. Missing a tooth changes how you chew and move your jaw. This may cause the teeth in the opposite jaw to super-erupt, a process in which the teeth in the opposing jaw lean or rotate toward the gap.
These alignment problems due to one missing tooth may affect how you eat and speak and cause other health problems like temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. Your shifting teeth also might cause more tooth loss.
When looking for replacement options to improve the look of your smile, dental implants are the obvious choice. The crowns we use for your dental implants are customized to look just like your natural teeth.
And because we place the crown at the gumline, it blends right in with your other teeth. You can’t distinguish the dental implant from your natural teeth, even up close.
Dental implants are made from high-quality titanium and ceramic materials. When you take good care of your implants, they can last the rest of your life. By comparison, you may need to replace a dental bridge every 10-15 years.
You care for your dental implants just as you would your natural teeth: Brushing with regular toothpaste twice a day, flossing once a day, and visiting Russell Family Dentistry at least twice a year for your dental examination and cleaning.
Dental implants fuse with your jawbone. This means you don’t have to worry about your implant falling out or breaking when you eat corn on the cob or bite into an apple.
Having permanently fused implants also means you don’t have to worry about your teeth slipping or falling out when you talk, boosting confidence and self-esteem.
Dental implants not only benefit your oral health, but also your physical, emotional, and social well-being.
To find out more about how dental implants can benefit your health and look, call our office or use our online scheduling tool to make an appointment today.
