Dental Implants Are a Permanent Alternative to Dentures

If you are wearing dentures, dental implants are an alternative solution that look and feel like natural teeth. While dentures are practical and provide patients with the appearance of a full set of teeth, they never feel quite natural. Implants, on the other hand, feel the same as the rest of your teeth so there is no way to tell which teeth are natural and which teeth are replacements.

Over seventy percent of adults over the age of sixty-five experience some form of tooth loss. Even young adults suffer from this age old problem, with around thirty percent of those over thirty five suffering from tooth loss. If this happens to you, it is important to decide how you want to replace the missing tooth. An experienced cosmetic dentist can help you to determine which solution will best fit with your lifestyle and the goals you have for your appearance.

Dental implants are ideal for people that have an active lifestyle and don't want their teeth to slow them down. Once the implant is installed, patients can eat all of their favorite foods, speak normally, and care for the implant as they do the rest of their teeth. This is a brush and go solution because as long as remember to practice good oral hygiene at home, along with visiting the dentist twice a year, you will never have to think about your replacement tooth again.

How the Process Works

In order to receive dental implants, you need to schedule a consultation with an experienced dentist. Our staff are experts at using this technology and able to determine if your gums and jawbone are in good enough health to schedule the procedure. If they are not, there are specific dental treatments that can get them ready. During your examination, a mold will be taken of your mouth so that the lab can create a synthetic tooth, or teeth, that is the right size and shape to blend in with your other natural teeth. If you want to have your teeth whitened now is an excellent time to do so because the synthetic tooth will be made to match your natural ones.

The first step in the procedure is to have a titanium post implanted under the surface of your gums. This piece will be secured to your jawbone and eventually the two will fuse together, creating an extremely durable synthetic root system. An abutment will be attached at the surface of your gums. Once the gums are healed the new tooth will be attached and put into position. This allows a cosmetic dentist to create a perfectly straight beautiful smile that looks and feels amazing. The entire process takes several months since your gums and bone need to heal after the implant procedure. During that time, you may want to wear temporary or immediate dentures so that no one will know that you don't have a full set of teeth. To learn more about the process or to schedule an examination, call today.

Teeth Whitening  >  Redwood City Dentist

How Dental Implants Can Help Your Jaw and Face

Did you know that dental implants can have a profound impact on the quality and health of your jaw? For many years, dental implants have been used as a way to replace teeth that have been lost. As the most innovative and permanent way of resolving the issue of tooth loss, implants have a plethora of benefits associated with them. Not the least of these is the fact that they can help your jawbone sustain and even grow.

But why do people need to replace their lost teeth anyway? There are a number of reasons why people have chosen to replace their teeth. The first is appearance and how unsightly it is to have a gaping hole where there once was a tooth. The second is functionality. Teeth influence what can be eaten, by virtue of being a tool for biting and chewing. A loss of teeth can quickly change a persons' lifestyle. Additionally, teeth are used in enunciation, so the loss of a tooth can influence how we speak as well.
Dental implants are superior to alternative solutions.
Dentures are effective as a replacement for lost teeth but do not address all of the issues. Dentures do not provide any support or stimulation to the jawbone. They also need to be fitted in the mouth using a chemical denture adhesive. Finally, there is always the risk of showing up for a fancy dinner and realizing you left your dentures on the nightstand. With bridges, there are many of the same problems except we have to add the inconvenience and discomfort of clasps and hooks to the equation. Dental implants are surgically implanted and once the tooth or crown, is in place you never have to treat it any differently that you would a natural tooth.
What else do dental implants do?
Today's dental implants are manufactured out of titanium with the sole purpose of ensuring that they synthesize with the body perfectly. Titanium can bond with organic material perfectly through a process known as osseointegration. When used in an implant, this convinces the body that the tiny implant screw is actually the same as a natural tooth root and needs to be treated as such. The implant and the attached crown provide stimulus to the jawbone which is essential for its survival.
The jawbone serves one primary purpose, from the body's perspective, and that is to support and secure the teeth. The teeth act as stimulants, providing the jawbone with stimulation every time that you bite or chew. This stimulation is what the body uses to know that the jaw is doing its work. When you lose a tooth, however, the stimulation stops, and the body is convinced that the jawbone no longer has a mission. The body then responds by starting a process known as resorption, whereby it starts to leach minerals like calcium away from the jawbone which will start to deteriorate. A healthy jaw is essential for the facial structure of a human being, which is why we recommend titanium implants that act like teeth and cause the body to restore the jawbone to its original state.

Cosmetic Dentistry  >  Oral Surgery