All tooth replacements are the same, aren’t they?. No, not at all! While traditional dentures and bridges enable you to have a complete set of teeth again visibly, implant restorations are the only option that also restores the tooth roots. As a result, they are best option if you want to keep your smile healthy and strong in the long term. How do they improve your oral health over normal dentures and bridges? Keep reading to find out!
Strengthen the Jawbone
As soon as a tooth root is removed from the jawbone, the tissue is resorbed by the body. Basically, the jawbone starts to degrade, becoming weaker and less dense over time. As a result, your ability to bite and chew food also gets weaker. Plus, a diminished jawbone makes it easier to suffer additional, future tooth loss.
Replacing the root as well as the crown, dental implants encourage new bone growth and continue to draw nutrients to the tissue just like real roots, which means that you can keep eating nutritious foods with at least 75 percent of your original biting power. In addition, with a strong jawbone, you have the support necessary to preserve your other teeth.
Maintain Jawbone Shape
When the jawbone decreases in density from tooth loss, it also slowly changes shape over time. That’s why people who have missing teeth tend to have old-looking, sunken faces. Although traditional dentures can help regain some ground, youthful facial shape is gone.
Fortunately, replacing missing teeth with implants keeps the jawbone strong and healthy. Consequently, it retains its shape over the years because the implants are securely embedded in the bone tissue, like real teeth.
What if you lost teeth a long time ago? Depending on how much time has lapsed, you may need to have a bone graft, which builds your jawbone back up enough to get implants. So, even then, you can have your healthier facial shape back when you choose implants!
Spare Surrounding Teeth from Unnecessary Damage
Other replacement options—namely bridges and partial dentures—rely on your remaining teeth to stay in place. Before a bridge can be attached, the two teeth on either side of the gap have be to be reduced. In other words, perfectly healthy enamel has to be removed to make room for the bridge.
Partial dentures often use metal clasps that wrap around the teeth for stability. Although this doesn’t directly cause damage, it could increase the risk of cavities or excessive wear for these teeth.
On the other hand, implants are completely independent of other teeth because they integrate with the jawbone, meaning no teeth are harmed in the process! Simply put, you get to keep your healthy teeth just as they are with dental implants.
At this point, it should be pretty clear why you should seriously consider implants to replace your missing teeth. It’s worth talking to an oral surgeon, an implant specialist, about this option so you can have a brilliant, stable, and long-lasting smile for many years to come!