How Dental Implants Can Improve Your Jaw and Lower Facial Contours
Most men and women are unaware of the damage tooth loss can cause.
Gaps in the smile aren’t the only consequences of tooth loss; the more teeth that are missing, the unhealthier your smile becomes.
How Tooth Loss Affects the Shape of Your Face
Your teeth, gums, and jaw work symbiotically. The roots provide stability to the teeth, further supported by healthy gum tissue. Chewing and other pressure on tooth roots stimulate the jawbone, which regenerates like other tissues.
When several teeth are missing, the jaw doesn’t receive the stimulation necessary to maintain adequate cell renewal, and the resorption process begins. Resorption refers to the gradual loss of bone volume and density.
This usually results in the distortion of lower face contours, such as a thin or pointy chin and prematurely aged appearance.
The only way to prevent tooth loss-related bone loss is to replace it with a dental implant.
5 Ways Dental Implants Keep You Looking Younger
1. Dental Implants Replace Missing Teeth Comprehensively
Absent teeth make your smile look older. Replacing teeth with implants offers the most natural-looking and life-like tooth replacement option.
2. Dental Implants Can Slow or Prevent Jawbone Resorption
Dental implants function as artificial tooth roots to provide the necessary stimulation for the jawbone’s continued health. This helps prevent bone loss and maintain youthful facial contours.
3. Dental Implants Can Be Color Matched to Your Remaining Teeth
You can transform your entire smile by receiving a professional whitening treatment on your healthy, remaining teeth and matching the implant(s) to their brighter shade.
4. You Can’t Be Caught Without Your Teeth
Dental implants are a permanent tooth loss solution. You won’t have to worry about removable dentures or partials that must be removed and cleaned. Take care of your implants like your natural teeth — with vigilance.
Neglecting your replacement teeth and gums can result in continued gum disease, failure of implants, and further tooth loss.
5. You Can Stop Hiding Your Smile
Feeling insecure about your smile due to missing teeth or less-than-reliable replacement methods can cause you to become more inhibited and less likely to smile, laugh, or even talk. A beautiful smile is part of a youthful-looking face.
Cosmetic treatments and dental implant procedures are performed after all oral health needs are met.
How Dental Implants Work
Individual Dental Implants
If you are only missing one tooth or have a few scattered gaps throughout your smile, individual implants are the best option to replace them.
Dental implantation involves several steps:
- First, the cause of your tooth loss must be treated and your jawbone volume measured. If bone loss has already begun, you may need bone grafts before you qualify for dental implants.
- If your jaw is healthy enough to receive dental implants, titanium posts are inserted through the gum and directly into the jawbone. Temporary crowns are placed, and you must avoid crunchy or chewy foods for a while.
- It takes several weeks for the implant post to fuse with the bone. This process is called osseointegration and ensures a secure anchor for your replacement teeth.
- Once the posts have fused with the jawbone, the denture or individual permanent crowns are attached to an abutment that has been screwed onto the implant post.
Implant-supported dentures offer excellent benefits for those without most or all of their teeth, but nothing beats the jawbone health benefits that individual implants provide.
Implant-Supported Dentures
Implant-supported dentures are an effective and economical alternative to individual dental implants to replace full arches of teeth. Sometimes, your current dentures can be modified for support with implants.
The posts are placed strategically for the strongest bond, and some implant-supported dentures (like All-on-4®) can be placed using only four posts.
Finding a Wide Range of Dental Implant Options in Chicago, IL
Dr. Vlad Fedin can help you choose the tooth-replacement method that best meets your needs at his well-equipped Chicago dental practice. He uses advanced dental techniques to provide healthy, natural-looking, and beautiful smiles for all his patients.
Schedule your consultation and initial implant visit today by calling (312) 642-6631.