We hope you have all your teeth. We hope you keep all your teeth for your entire life.
But if you should lose some teeth or you know someone who is missing teeth, then you need to learn about dental implants.
In restorative dentistry, implants changed what was possible in the world of teeth replacements. With implant-support crowns, bridges, and dentures, your teeth replacements can be practically as good as the real things. We’re happy to offer this services for our patients at our Fort Myers and North Naples, FL dental offices.
To learn some of the reasons we are such fans of implants, keep reading. Better yet, call the offices of George A. Hoop, DDS, at (239) 594-8817 to set up a consultation.
1. You Can Rebuild Your Smile
Smiles are among the most common concerns of people who are missing teeth. Having a large gap between your teeth could make you feel self-conscious about your smile.
Replacing those teeth can help you feel more comfortable in person, professional, and social settings.
With dental implants, you can have a secure foundation to support your dental restorations. This can restore your natural-looking smile. With your new teeth in place, your smile can look as good or better than it ever has.
2. Your Teeth With Stay In Place
This is another big concern, particularly for people who have dentures. (Just do an internet search for dentures falling out to understand why.)
Loose-fitting dentures can make it difficult to speak. Saying certain words can cause your teeth to come loose or come out. That’s true with both full and partial dentures.
If speaking can cause those kinds of issues, then you can appreciate how difficult eating with dentures can be. Some foods may even pull your teeth out of your mouth. (Apples and corn on the cob come to mind.)
You could try using a denture adhesive, and that does provide some benefit. But it’s still not like eating or speaking with a full set of healthy teeth.
With implants, you could have a different experience. Implants act sort of like fence posts do. They hold your replacement teeth secure and stable. You won’t be worried about your teeth falling out while you are speaking to someone or to a group. You also won’t be as worried about what you can or shouldn’t put on your plate. That also leads to our next benefit …
3. You Can Bite with Some Power
People with traditional dentures can restore about one-fifth of their original biting power. That helps explain why eating apples can be difficult. It also explains why chewing a bite of chicken or steaks can start to seem like a chore. Sore jaws are not the way to enjoy a meal.
It won’t take long for you to figure out what you can and can’t eat. That also can change the enjoyment you may get from attending a family cook-out or dining out with family and friends. When you have to focus on finding what you can eat rather than what you want to eat, the menu doesn’t seem as appealing.
As we noted above, implants serve to anchor your crowns, bridges, or dentures in place. Since your implants are placed directly in your jaw, this also creates a direct connection from your jawbone to your replacement teeth.
As a result of that connection, you can put much more force, much more power into every bite and chew. Research has shown that people with implant-supported dentures can restore 80 percent or more of their original biting power. That’s more than enough to continue eating the foods that you enjoy.
When you can eat what you want and eat comfortably, it makes a big difference in your quality of life.
4. You Can Protect Your Jaw Health
Bone loss is another common problem for people who are missing teeth.
You may have noticed this in people without teeth or who have traditional dentures. Without roots or implants to replace them, your jawbone does not get stimulation when you bite and chew. That stimulation is important. It’s what prompts your jawbone to make new bone tissue as older tissue is absorbed back into your body.
If there is not new tissue, the jaw begins to shrink.
But this can be an issue if you are missing just one tooth. Studies have revealed patients who have lost as much as 25 percent of the bone density in the part of their mouth without a tooth. That can set the stage for more bone loss down the road.
By getting implants as part of your teeth replacement, you also are doing something to keep your jaw healthy and strong.
5. You Can Stop Drifting.
When you have all your teeth, they provide mutual support for one another. Whether you realize it or not, you are putting pressure on your teeth throughout the day. The fact that your teeth are close to one another keeps them in the same places.
If you remove just one of those teeth, however, it creates an opportunity for nearby teeth to drift into that space. This can change the appearance of your smile, and it can affect your bite as well.
By getting an implant-supported tooth replacement, you have something to fill that space and to replace the support you lost when you lost your tooth.
Fight the Effect of Tooth Loss Today
Whether you lost a tooth to an oral health issue or had a tooth knocked out due to an injury, you can restore more than just your smile. You deserve to bring back the full function of your missing teeth as well.
Dental implants are a great way to get your smile back on track. They also can help you continue to speak and eat normally and naturally.
To learn more about this restorative option, schedule a consultation with Dr. Hoop in Fort Myers or North Naples, FL. Contact us online or call (239) 594-8817 to get started.
