What are dental implants used for?

Dental implants are used to replace missing teeth. Implants can be used to replace single or multiple teeth. In fact, I have placed dental implants on some patients that have had no teeth at all, and restored their entire smile! Having implants in place allows a patient to regain function in chewing, and not handicapping them from eating what they love. Implants can also serve to be esthetic, look like a real tooth, and regain a patient's confidence in their smile.

What are the benefits of dental implants?

There are several benefits to dental implants:

1) Implants can be more esthetic - Given the right oral condition, an implant can look esthetically better than a traditional option of tooth replacement such as a bridge or denture.

2) Implants last - When it comes to the human body, there's never any guarantees of 100% success in any procedure. Everybody is made differently. However, studies have shown, that on average, implants last much longer than other treatment modalities of tooth replacement (bridge/dentures).

3) Preservation of bone - When you lose a tooth, you lose more than just the tooth itself. You also lose bone! Your teeth send a signal to your body that the bone is needed to keep the tooth in place and support it. Once the tooth is missing, the body sends a signal that the bone is no longer necessary, and you will start to lose bone in the area where the tooth once was, and possibly even the bone around the neighboring teeth. If an implant is placed soon after a tooth is extracted, this tricks the body into thinking there is still a tooth there. Studies show little to no bone loss in areas where an implant has been placed.

What are dental implants?

Dental implants are another modern day option on tooth replacement. An implant is a titanium cylinder that is placed in the jaw where a tooth once used to be. Over the course of a few months, the body will grow bone around the implant. Once the implant is "osseointegrated " it is ready to restore with a crown on top which will look just like a real tooth. Implants have the advantage over other tooth replacing options of giving a patient that ability to floss in between the implant and teeth (difficult to do with a bridge) and unlike a denture, an implant is not removable. You treat your implant just like a tooth in terms of brushing and flossing everyday.