What To Know About Getting Dental Implants
If you have missing teeth, you know the embarrassment of showing your smile. There are many ways to correct missing teeth, but the best is certainly dental implants. If you have missing teeth, before you consider anything else, check out these five important facts about dental implants.
You Need Heathy Gums
Many people with missing teeth don't have the best oral hygiene habits. Even something as simple as not flossing can lead to serious decay or infection, causing you to lose a tooth. The amount of decay you have doesn't really matter, but if you don't have healthy gums, dental implants may not be for you. If you suffer from gum disease, your gums and jawbone may not be strong enough to support the implant, causing it to fail. You can even develop peri-implant disease or gum disease around the implant. Getting your gum disease under control and becoming dedicated to good oral hygiene are the first steps to take if you want implants.
The Process Takes Time
Getting an implant doesn't take just a few weeks or visits. It's a slow process because your dentist must make sure everything has healed completely and properly before moving on to the next step. The process takes a minimum of five to six months, which can increase depending on your treatment plan. If you want an implant to replace your tooth, you have to go a long time without a tooth there. Luckily, while you wait for the process to be complete, your dentist can craft you a partial denture that can fill in any missing teeth, even if you only have one missing tooth.
You May Need a Bone Graft
When you lose teeth, it affects your jawbone. Having lots of missing teeth can even alter the shape of your face as your jawbone shrinks, but even one missing tooth can cause your jawbone to become weak in that spot, making it impossible for it to support an implant. A bone graft can correct this. In some cases, your dentist uses bone from another part of your mouth, but even if the tooth was just pulled, your dentist may do a minor bone graft using synthetic bone to keep the space filled. Overtime, the bone fuses and becomes part of the jaw.
Dental Implants Are the Most Durable Option
It's important to have a solid jawbone because that's what supports a dental implant. Unlike bridges, which are supported by surrounding teeth, implants sit in your jawbone like natural teeth. This makes them powerfully durable. In fact, they are just as strong as regular teeth because the titanium root actually fuses to the jawbone in the same manner natural teeth do. As a result, you can treat your implants just like regular teeth, continuing to eat the same foods you've always eaten without the fear of dislodging them or breaking them.
Implants May Last the Rest of Your Life
Dental implants aren't cheap. On average, they cost about $4,250 per implant, and that doesn't include the extraction and bone graft. A three to four implant bridge costs about $8,500, and a full set of implant-supported dentures costs $34,000. A typical dental bridge, however, only costs between $500 and $1,200 per artificial tooth, and a full set of traditional dentures costs about $600 to $8,000, depending on the quality. On the bright side, however, thanks to their stupendous durability, once you get an implant, it may last the rest of your life. Dentures and bridges won't, so you'll have to pay again to have them replaced.
There's no reason to struggle with missing teeth a moment longer. Dental implants offer an excellent way to replace your missing teeth once and for all. For more information about dental implants, contact a cosmetic dentist in your area today.
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