Replacing Missing Teeth

Your teeth affect your whole body. When they’re healthy, you’re healthier too. A missing tooth can affect your bite, speech, and eating choices. As you rely more on your remaining teeth, you increase the chance they will wear out prematurely, or be damaged or lost. You may also experience headaches and/or jaw pain.

Who would want their appearance and health to deteriorate? That’s the natural consequence of missing teeth – the jaw literally melts away. Generally, people will lose 25% of their supporting jawbone structure within the first year after tooth loss. Dental implants are more easily placed when teeth are first extracted because bone replacement becomes more complex as time passes. The great news? Implants act just like your natural teeth. They safeguard and preserve your bone structure, oral health, and appearance. Your dentist and the implant surgeon will provide you with options so that you can make the most informed decision concerning tooth replacement.

Tooth Replacement Options

You can select from a number of different options to replace your missing teeth – from temporary to long-lasting solutions.
A good candidate is anyone missing one or more teeth, or who is unhappy with their dentures. Age is not a factor. However, smoking, diseases such as diabetes, and radiation therapy to the area, have been shown to lower the success rate of implant placement. X-rays of your jaw will be taken to evaluate whether they will accommodate implants. Detailed x-rays may also be required to determine if other tests or procedures are needed to place implants properly.

Why Select Dental Implants Over More Traditional Types Of Restorations?

There are several reasons: A dental bridge will sacrifice the structure of surrounding good teeth to bridge the space of the missing tooth/teeth. Dental implants do not attach to or sacrifice surrounding teeth. In addition, removing a denture or a “partial” at night may be inconvenient, not to mention dentures that slip can be uncomfortable and rather embarrassing. Dentures attached to dental implants are more comfortable and secure. The ADA now recommends that a dental implant be used to replace single teeth as the first treatment option when appropriate. They also recommend using dental implants to support, stabilize or replace a removable prosthesis. With an extensive working knowledge of the many dental implant systems during his 30 years of dental practice, Dr. Pickle can help with almost any dental implant situation you have in your mouth.

One of the benefits of dental implants is retrievability of the crown or prosthesis because it is screwed into place. Even though dental implant therapy may be a larger investment at first, it is usually very cost-effective in the long-term because of the ease of maintenance and repairs, and also using existing implants in future restorations instead of starting from scratch.

Implants are made of titanium, so they will never decay or need root canals like natural teeth. Decay and infections in old dental work are the main reasons that traditional restorations fail over a lifetime.