Dental implants are metal posts or frames that are surgically positioned into the jawbone beneath your gums. After positioning them, dentists mount replacement teeth onto them.
Dental implants are fused into your jawbone and provide support for artificial teeth. Dentures and bridges mounted to implants won’t slip or shift in your mouth. This helps the dentures and bridges—as well as individual crowns placed over the implant—feel more natural than conventional bridges or dentures. For some people, ordinary bridges and dentures are not comfortable or even possible due to sore spots, poor ridges, or gagging. Also, ordinary bridges must be attached to teeth on either side of the space left by the missing tooth. The biggest benefit of dental implants is that no adjacent teeth need to be prepared or ground down to hold your new replacement tooth/teeth in place.
For putting in implants, you need healthy gums and adequate bones to support them. Meticulous oral hygiene and regular dental visits are critical to the long-term success of dental implants.
Benefits of Putting Dental Implants
There are many advantages to dental implants:
Dental implants look and feel like your own teeth. And because they are designed to fuse with bone, they become permanent.
With poor-fitting dentures, the teeth can slip into the mouth, causing you to mumble or slur your words. Dental implants allow you to speak without worrying that your teeth might slip.
Implants eliminate the discomfort of removable dentures. Sliding dentures are often difficult to chew. Dental implants function like your own teeth and allow you to eat easier.
Dental implants don’t require reducing other teeth, as a tooth-supported bridge does. Because nearby teeth are not altered to support the implant, more of your teeth are left intact, improving your long-term oral health. Individual implants also allow easier access to teeth, improving oral hygiene.
Implants are very durable and will last for many years. With good care, many implants last a lifetime.
Removable dentures are just that—removable. Dental implants eliminate the embarrassing inconvenience of removing your dentures, as well as the need for messy adhesives to keep your dentures in place.
