If you have lost teeth or are facing the loss of teeth, you are probably considering options to replace them. Although there are many choices available, none are as good as dental implants.
Dental implants offer numerous benefits that make them the best tooth replacement in most situations.
Bite and Chew Normally
One of the most important reasons to replace teeth is to keep eating a full range of healthy, nutritious foods. Dental implants are the best way to do this. Dental implants work just like your natural teeth: they are anchored in your bone. This means that bite force passes from the tooth into the implant and into the bone, just as with natural teeth. As a result, you can bite and chew with dental implants just as you do with natural teeth.
Speak Clearly
Having one or more missing teeth can make it hard to speak clearly. Lips, tongue, and teeth all work together to produce speech sounds. Not all tooth replacements fix this problem. Removable dentures are often loose, which makes it difficult to form some speech sounds. In addition, dentures can create other sounds like clicking as dentures hit together or whistling as air passes under the denture.
Dental implants work just like natural teeth, so they make it easy for you to speak clearly.
Look Natural
Dental implants are the most natural-looking tooth replacement option. Dentures sit on top of your gums and have a framework of plastic gums around the teeth, which might themselves be plastic. They can be passable, but unless you get high-end cosmetic dentures, they are not usually attractive. Even the best dentures can’t pass as natural, either, if they don’t stay in place.
Dental implants can look very natural because they are surrounded by your gums. Plus, they can be made with highly attractive ceramic materials that emulate your natural tooth enamel.
Feel Natural
Dentures sit on top of your gums and don’t feel natural. Especially when you first get them, dentures feel very much like having something big in your mouth and many people struggle not to gag with them. In addition, the way they put bite force on your gums makes them feel unlike natural teeth. Denture pain is common.
But dental implants feel just like your natural teeth. Most people with a dental implant say it doesn’t feel different from their natural teeth.
Don’t Rely on Natural Teeth for Support
Many tooth replacements rely on your natural teeth for support–if you have natural teeth remaining. A dental bridge relies on crowns on natural teeth to hold it in place. Partial dentures have hooks or clasps that go around your natural teeth to help secure them. Without proper care, these can put the supporting teeth at risk.
Dental implants support themselves. They won’t endanger your neighboring teeth. Typically, they can extend the life of other teeth by reducing the risk of gum disease caused by having a space between teeth.
Replace Any Number of Teeth
Dental implants can be used to replace any number of missing teeth. We can use an implant to replace just one tooth, or use a couple of implants to replace several missing teeth. Or we can replace an entire arch of teeth using as few as four dental implants.
Dental implants can also easily replace any specific missing tooth. From the incisors in front to the molars in back, there are no teeth that dental implants can’t replace.
Help Retain Bone and Gums
When your teeth are lost, your body senses the change. One of its responses to the loss is to begin removing the bone from your jaw that is no longer needed to support teeth. Once the bone is gone, the gums collapse, too. Dentures and dental bridges can’t stop this loss.
Dental implants, though, stimulate the bone so your body won’t remove it. This helps you keep strong, healthy bone in your jaw.
Maintain Your Facial Shape
Removing bone from your jaws can change the shape of your face. As the bone disappears, the lower third of the face loses much of its volume. This leads to an apparent excess of skin. The skin starts to hang down loosely, causing jowls and turkey neck. The skin also begins to fold around the mouth, leading to wrinkles and the cheeks can sink inward. All of this accelerates the appearance of facial aging.
Dental implants help you hold onto the bone in your jaws, which helps you look younger longer.
Easy to Care for
Dental implants are like your natural teeth in many ways, including their basic care needs. Care for a dental implant as you care for your teeth. Brush them twice daily and floss them every day. Make regular dental appointments as your implant dentist recommends. Some people at elevated risk of gum disease might want to visit the dentist more than twice a year, but other than that, dental implants require no special care.
Can Last a Lifetime
If you take care of your dental implants, they can last a lifetime. Once an implant integrates with your bone, it usually stays there for decades. More than 90% of dental implants last about 20 years, and some people have had dental implants for as much as 50 years. Over that time, you might have to replace the crown or bridge, but the implants themselves can stay in place and healthy for the rest of your life.
Get Dental Implants in Wilmington, DE
If you’re considering your tooth replacement options and the above list of benefits seems appealing, now’s the time to talk to implant dentist Dr. Michael T. Rosen in Wilmington, DE. Please call (302) 994-0979 or use our contact form today to schedule a dental implant consultation.
