If you’ve experienced tooth loss due to dental decay, gum disease or injury, exploring dentaldental implants implants as an option for tooth replacement is definitely worthwhile. While no one option is right for everyone, dental implants have clear advantages over other reconstruction options in many situations.
Here are 10 situations when dental implants may be the best choice:
- Embarrassing smile gaps – Losing a tooth in the front of the mouth can be a very traumatic and embarrassing situation for many, making social or business interactions uncomfortable and affecting self esteem and confidence. Dental implants are generally the best solution for such a gap, offering more beautiful, natural looking results than fixed bridges can. Additionally, dental implants last much longer than traditional options, often for a lifetime, avoiding recurrence of that embarrassing gap.
- Replacing single or several lost teeth – While the value of replacing front teeth is often obvious to patients, many take the loss of a rear tooth less seriously. However, missing back teeth affect the appearance too, creating facial hollows, since the lack of stimulation by a tooth root causes atrophy of the jawbone. Fixed bridges do not address the problem, since they do not stimulate the jawbone. Dental implants do, since they involve inserting an artificial root into the jaw.
- Teeth lost to injuries – Losing teeth due to a sudden trauma, such as a sports injury or auto accident, is a situation that can often be best remedied with dental implants. Edmond, OK patients who experience such a loss are often young adults who will live with the chosen solution for many years. Over that time, bridgework or partial dentures, will need replacement several times, may cause damage or decay in neighboring teeth, and bone loss will occur. Dental implants can provide a more reliable solution.
- Congenital missing teeth – Sometimes, people are missing permanent teeth at birth, which can have very noticeable affects on the appearance. Dental implants can provide an ideal solution to this problem.
- Troublesome bridgework – If you’ve had bridgework done that is causing mouth pain and stress, it isn’t too late to look into dental implants. Edmond OK patients often find that implant-based replacement offers a stronger, more stable solution.
- Replacing partial dentures – Partial dentures often become less stable over time, as gum changes and jaw atrophy change their fit. Metal clasps that secure them to adjacent teeth often cause wear, discoloration or decay. Replacing troublesome partials with implant-based options can relieve these issues.
- Total tooth loss – Implant-based total tooth replacement is done by placing several implants to provide a secure foundation for an entire arch of replacement teeth. Advantages over traditional dentures include better preservation of oral structure, a natural look and feel, more efficient chewing, and no embarrassing denture slipping or noises.
- Extensive or total tooth loss in the younger patient – While most extensive tooth loss occurs late in life, hereditary defects and health problems can cause extensive or total tooth loss in much younger patients. Long-term issues, like bone atrophy and lost facial structure, are a major concern in younger adults, making implant-based replacement the best possible solution.
- Ill-fitting dentures – Dentures loosen as bone loss and changes in the gum ridges occur, making refitting or replacement necessary. However, sometimes structural changes are so extensive that a proper fit becomes impossible. Permanent dentures are often the best means of restoring proper chewing, speech and day-to-day comfort.
- Floating lower denture – Lower dentures are often unstable, moving as a person eats, speaks or laughs. With dental implants, Edmond, OK patients can have a lower arch as stable as natural teeth.
