Dental Implants – Teeth So Natural, Your Mouth Doesn’t Know the Difference!

When you have a missing tooth and a traditional bridge is used to replace it, your ability to chew, bite and eat is restored and the gap left by the missing tooth is filled, but your gums and jawbone are still lacking the tooth root which helped keep them alive and stimulated. Dental implants solve that problem because the titanium screw that is implanted in your jawbone eventually becomes a part of the bone in a process called osseointegration. Because of this process, your bone and gums stay stimulated and alive, totally unaware of the fact that your natural tooth is no longer there.

Dental implants can be used in a variety of instances from replacing one tooth to securing a bridge, a partial denture or even full dentures. To replace one tooth, the artificial tooth (or crown) is secured into your mouth with the implant without any need to be attached to surrounding teeth. For a bridge or partial that replaces several teeth, only one implant is typically needed to secure the structure in your mouth, whereas a full denture will require four or more implants.

A dental implant consists of three separate parts:

1. A titanium screw (or cylinder) that is surgically placed beneath the gum line and into the bone beneath your missing tooth or teeth.
2. An abutment that protrudes above the gum line and is fashioned to secure to the artificial tooth, bridge or denture.
3. The prosthesis itself which can be one tooth, a bridge, a partial or a full denture that has been designed to be able to slip onto the abutment in order to be securely held in your mouth.

When artificial teeth are supported by dental implants, not only do they look, feel and function like natural teeth, they also keep the surrounding gums and bone stimulated and alive the way that natural teeth do, which is good for your overall oral health. And, because a prosthesis that is secured with a dental implant does not need to attach to surrounding teeth to be secured, it reduces any strain or wear that can be placed on neighboring teeth.  When you have missing teeth, even if they have been replaced by a bridge, a partial denture or even a full denture, dental implants can still be used to secure an existing prosthesis to give it more stability and provide you with added comfort and reliability for biting and chewing.

In order to be a good candidate for dental implants, you must have adequate bone structure for the placement of the titanium screw or cylinder. However, there are procedures such as bone grafting and ridge modification that can be done to ensure that you have the needed bone structure for an implant. By examining your gum, jawbone and teeth, a dentist will be able to determine whether or not you are a good candidate for a dental implant or if additional treatments to get you ready for dental implants are a viable solution.

Once your missing teeth are replaced by a prosthesis that is secured with a dental implant, your teeth will look, feel and function so naturally that even your mouth won’t be able to tell the difference!