When you are missing one or more of your natural teeth, you have several options for restoring your smile including dental implants. Today, dental implants are often the first choice among patients with missing teeth as these permanent tooth replacements offer many benefits. Here are a few good reasons to consider replacing your missing teeth with dental implants.
Looks, feels and functions just like a natural tooth. Strong, stable and durable, a dental implant is designed to replace a missing tooth so it looks, feels, fits and functions like a natural tooth. Other options can lead to bone deterioration and may impede your ability to eat, smile and speak.
Long-lasting solution to missing teeth. Unlike tooth-supported dental bridges that last a decade or so when cared for properly, dental implants can last a lifetime with proper care.
No need to worry about your teeth. When you have dental implants, you won’t have to worry that your smile isn’t attractive or that your dentures or tooth-supported replacement teeth will loosen or fall out when talking, eating or laughing. Dental implants allow you to enjoy life fully as they look great and won’t loosen or fall out.
Retains the natural shape of your face and smile. When you have missing teeth that you don’t replace, your face can appear sunken to make you look older than you actually are. But when you replace missing teeth with dental implants, the natural shape of your face and smile is maintained.
Helps keeps the jawbone healthy. Leaving gaps in your mouth when you’ve lost one or more teeth causes your gums to recede and your jawbone to deteriorate due to the tooth roots no longer being present in the bone. This can lead to the loosening and subsequent loss of the remaining teeth. But since a dental implant is implanted into the jawbone, your gums will not recede and your jawbone won’t deteriorate.
No food restrictions. When you’ve replaced missing teeth with dental implants, you can enjoy eating all your favorite foods as the implants work just like natural teeth. This is not the case when you wear removable dentures as some foods are difficult to eat.
Dental implants help keep your remaining teeth healthy. When you have a tooth supported bridge put in, the dentist must modify the healthy teeth on either side of the gap by grinding them down so that the bridge can be properly secured to these teeth. But since a dental implant is implanted directly into the jawbone, there is no need to compromise the health of your existing teeth.
Easy to care for. When you have dental implants, you don’t need to use any special brushes or cleansers in order to maintain good oral hygiene. Instead you simply brush and floss your teeth well every day to keep bacteria & plaque at bay.
If you’d like to find out if you’re a good candidate for dental implants, please contact us today to schedule an appointment time. Dr. Letelier and his team at The Center for Oral Surgery of Las Vegas look forward to meeting you soon!