Teeth are tough and designed to last a lifetime, but life can often have other plans. Whether you lost a tooth due to trauma, tooth decay, or gum disease, replacement is essential if you want to continue smiling, chewing, and talking with ease.
Tooth loss is a common problem in the United States — about 178 million people have lost at least one tooth, and 40 million Americans have lost all of their teeth. When it comes to replacement, dental implants are becoming the most popular choice, with 5 million implants placed each year in the US.
At Ideal Dental of Tucson, Dr. Dallin Williams, Dr. Lissette Ruiz, and our team have had great success helping patients replace missing teeth with dental implants. Here’s why we consider dental implants to be the gold standard for tooth replacement.
When we talk about dental implants, we’re referring to the metal post that we place into your jaw where your tooth once was. This implant integrates into your jaw as bone grows around it, fusing it into position.
So, when we place a crown (a prosthetic tooth) onto the implant, you have a tooth that’s anchored securely to provide you with exceptional stability. In other words, dental implants come close to mimicking your natural teeth, right down to the roots.
As a result, and unlike other replacement options, you won’t skip a beat when it comes to smiling, talking, and chewing because the tooth integrates into your natural teeth, giving you stability you can rely on.
When you lose a tooth, the bone surrounding that tooth is reabsorbed quickly by your body because there's no activity in the area. By the numbers, people lose about 50% of the alveolar bone (the ridge of bone that anchors your teeth to your jaw) in the first year after tooth loss.
If we place an implant, your body registers the presence of a new root, so it continues to grow new bone tissue in the area. As a result, you can not only prevent bone loss, but you also have better bone strength to support your replacement tooth, as well as surrounding teeth.
Once we place the metal post into your jawbone, it becomes a permanent fixture. While the crown that we place over the post may need replacement at some point down the road, the post should go the distance.
Not only do dental implants fit in seamlessly with your natural teeth, but taking care of the tooth restoration is easy — you follow normal dental hygiene, which means:
And don’t forget to visit us for your twice-yearly dental cleanings.
As you can see, there’s a lot to appreciate when it comes to using dental implants to replace missing teeth.
To explore whether you’re a candidate for dental implants, we invite you to schedule an appointment today with the Ideal Dental of Tucson team in Tucson, Arizona. You can call the office at 505-405-3495 or use the online booking tool.
