Dental implants are a fixed solution to replacing a missing tooth or indeed several missing teeth and a highly aesthetic restoration such as a CEREC crown is placed over the top to give a totally natural-looking new tooth. But there are other reasons why dental implants provide the perfect replacement when tackling vacant spaces in your mouth….
Before and after dental implants treatment
Prevent jawbone loss
Teeth are responsible for stimulating the jawbone – this occurs when your use your teeth to break foods down. When you have a missing tooth, the jawbone around this area does not receive this stimulation and a process known as resorption occurs; this is when your jawbone shrinks and eventually disappears.
Restore Function
Dental implants are placed into the jawbone and left to fuse with it, thus becoming a natural part of you; this is incidentally how jawbone loss is avoided.
Restore your facial aesthetic
Missing teeth change your facial structure in the following ways:
- The shape of your mouth changes and thins as it no longer receives the structural support offered by teeth.
- After bones stop growing, the body still replenishes bone tissue to ensure it has the strength and health that it needs.
Replace dentures
Many patients who visit us look to replace their dentures with dental implants in order to restore function in their jawbone and restore their facial aesthetic. Dentures can be very inconvenient when it comes to social situations, eating and affect a person’s confidence, all down to the fact that they are a removable solution whilst dental implants are fixed. Dentures make breaking tougher foods down challenging and can slip out of position when you do not wish them to, causing great embarrassment and eventually affecting a person’s desire to smile properly, for fear that they might fall out completely.
The consequences of jawbone loss
After a year, the bone at the location of a missing tooth reduces by 25% and this continues at a rate of approximately 4mm each year. This is what is responsible for the jaw having a ‘sunken’ look and makes you appear older than your years over very little time.
If you would like more information about the treatments we offer here at Cliftonville, please do not hesitate to contact us.