If you lose a tooth, promptly replacing it is crucial to restore the health of your mouth. If you don’t act fast, eating and speaking may become difficult. New dental problems, like bite misalignments, may also emerge if the surrounding teeth shift toward the available space. Besides preventing these issues and improving your smile, cosmetic teeth implants also offer several other benefits.
Let’s break down the process and advantages of getting dental implants so you can determine whether this treatment is right for you.
What Are Dental Implants?
Dental implants are a restorative procedure that allows you to restore one or several missing teeth, recovering your mouth’s functionality and appearance. Unlike other restorations, like dental bridges or dentures, implants try to replicate the structure of a natural tooth.
They consist of a titanium post inserted into the jawbone, an abutment as a connection, and a dental crown on top. This allows implants to be as solid and stable as natural teeth. It also stimulates the jawbone, preventing bone density loss and premature aging signs.
For this and several more reasons, implants are a go-to solution for many patients facing tooth loss.
The Benefits of Dental Implants
Long-Lasting
Dental implants are a reliable and durable solution to missing teeth. Because the implant fuses with your jaw, it can last a lifetime if you maintain proper oral hygiene habits and visit the dentist regularly.
Studies have shown that implants have a success rate above 97% for 10 years. Compared with other dental restorations, complete dentures last an average of 10.1 years, while bridges generally need to be replaced every 5 to 15 years.
Prevents Bone Loss
Dental implants help prevent the natural bone resorption process after losing a tooth.
When you lose a tooth, your jawbone loses stimulation and nutrients from that part of your mouth. For that reason, your body starts to break down bone and reabsorb some of the bone tissue in that area to focus it on other parts.
Sadly, this weakens your jawbone, affecting the stability of the surrounding teeth, too. The alveolar ridge, the part of your jawbone that contains your tooth socket, loses 30% of its mass in the first 6 months after tooth loss. For that reason, getting a restoration-like implant is key to preserving the bone’s mass and lowering the rate of bone resorption.
Natural Looking and Aesthetic
Dental implants are highly natural-looking, blending in seamlessly with the rest of your smile. The crown on top is custom-designed to match your surrounding teeth in shape, color, and length, ensuring it looks and feels like a natural tooth.
This offers very pleasing-looking results. In fact, 94% of 400 participants in a study stated they were adequately happy with the appearance of their implant.
Restores Chewing and Speaking Abilities
The best benefit implants have to offer is restoring your full bite.
Implants closely mimic your natural teeth, allowing you to comfortably chew tougher foods. Additionally, they may help maintain your speech patterns by repairing dental cavities that alter how air moves through your mouth during speech.
How’s the Process for Getting Dental Implants?
One of the downsides of getting dental implants could be its process, which is often intricate and involves several steps. Because implants osseointegrate with the bone, sufficient time must be given for your mouth to heal before placing the final restoration. Here’s what the procedure often looks like:
1. Dental Exam
Getting dental implants starts with a comprehensive exam to assess the state of your smile. During the exam, we’ll discuss your medical history, conduct a visual screening, listen to your concerns, and take dental X-rays to analyze your jawbone.
Having enough jawbone density is a requisite for implant surgery. The possibility of implant failure and infection increases if you don’t. To prevent that, we can conduct a gum graft before implant surgery, a process in which bone is added to the area to promote growth.
Moreover, if you’re getting several implants, we can use 3D imaging to design a virtual model of your final smile. If your exam results are adequate, we will continue with the next step of the implant placement process.
2. Implant Placement
Before we begin any work on your dental implant surgery, you will be given a sedative. Usually, we administer general sedation, a local injection, or an IV.
After that, we will cut your gums to reveal your jawbone. We then make a hole with a tiny drill and attach the titanium implant to your jawbone. We use titanium because it is robust, lightweight, and has almost no history of bodily rejection. The surgery can take up to two hours.
You will likely have sutures in the area when you depart. Occasionally, after a week or two, you must return to our office to have them taken out. The titanium can take up to six weeks to fuse with the bone, during which you must follow your dentist’s care instructions.
3. Placing the Abutment
Once the osseointegration process is complete and your gums have healed, we’ll place the abutment. This is the part that holds the crown in place. It can sometimes be installed at the same time as the metal post, or it will be placed during a follow-up appointment.
Recovery from the abutment installation typically takes two weeks. However, crafting a permanent crown can take up to two weeks, so sometimes patients need a temporary crown to fill the gap.
4. Placement of the Artificial Tooth or Teeth
The final step in the dental implant procedure is the placement of the temporary and permanent crowns.
Following osseointegration, we will take impressions of your mouth and teeth, which we will use to create your temporary and permanent artificial tooth or teeth. You’ll receive a temporary crown until the final fabrication is complete.
You will then go back for the final step in the dental implant procedure, which is the placement of the permanent prosthetic. The teeth will be permanently attached to your abutment by screwing or cementing them onto the post.
Enjoy a Natural Look with Cosmetic Teeth Implants
Implants are a unique type of dental restoration. By imitating a natural tooth’s structure, they can offer unparalleled benefits for the functionality and looks of your smile. Moreover, they’re highly durable, improving oral health for several years.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of dental implants, contact Mirror Lake today!
