How Dental Implants Improve the Quality of Your Jawbone

When you lose a tooth, the bone that once surrounded it begins to shrink. This can lead to problems with your jawbone and even affect your ability to speak or eat. Dental implants are a great way to replace missing teeth and improve the quality of your jawbone at the same time.

Issues Related to Bone Loss

What happens if you don’t get a dental implant? There are other options, but let’s discuss why bone stabilization is so important to your oral health.

Once an implant is placed, the body is tricked into thinking that there is still a tooth in place. Blood supply will continue to be carried to that area, and the bone will remain healthy.

If a tooth is removed and the space remains empty, the body knows that the bone in that area is no longer necessary, so it begins to deteriorate. This will cause problems in the future.

First, the adjacent teeth will also experience some bone loss. This could lead to mobility and maybe even tooth loss, especially if there has already been some bone loss due to periodontal disease (gum disease).

Second, as more teeth are lost, the bone will resorb in those areas as well. If you need a denture at some point, there may not be enough supporting bone left to keep a denture in place. For example, a mandibular (lower) denture relies heavily on the ridge of bone to support it. If little bone remains, a lower denture will not stay in place.

What Is a Dental Implant?

A dental implant is a titanium screw that your dental surgeon inserts into the jawbone where you’re missing one or more teeth. After some healing has taken place, a crown (an artificial tooth) then fits on top of the implant screw.

Implants are common practice in most dental offices, and they are simply the best way to restore a missing tooth. They have many benefits, but one is that they are the closest alternative to your natural teeth. In addition, dental implants have a 98% success rate and can last an entire lifetime.

How Dental Implants Work

A dental implant works through a process called osseointegration. This is what happens when the implant fuses with the jawbone. It’s also what makes implants so sturdy and able to withstand biting and chewing forces. Implants are made of titanium, a biocompatible metal. The metal does not disintegrate, and the grooves provide more surface area for the bone to fuse. The implant will have the same support that the natural tooth had. Once an implant is placed, it does require several months of healing before the implant crown can be placed. You must allow enough time for the osseointegration to be completed. Placing a crown too quickly can cause an implant to fail. Once an implant fails, it is more difficult to place a second one.