After successfully dealing with any oral health concern, you can ideally stop worrying about it and any potential affects it might cause your smile. The right oral health treatment can help you address most oral health concerns in a way that stops their progression entirely and helps you restore any natural tooth structure or oral tissues that may have been compromised. However, when it comes to tooth loss, replacing the tooth with a conventional restoration isn’t enough to stop all of the impacts to your oral health. Today, we look at how dental implants more fully restore your smile after tooth loss, and how their lifelike support can eliminate many of the concerns that come with more traditional replacement teeth.
How you’re going to support your restoration
The good thing about most conventional restorations, like dental bridges and dentures, is that they can do an excellent job of filling out your smile after you’ve lost teeth. Most are designed from highly lifelike materials such as porcelain, and are crafted with a high level of care to mimic the healthy, natural appearance of your teeth. However, the fact that traditional restorations have to rest on top of your dental ridge means they require specialized support systems in order to remain stable. These may include dental crowns attached to neighboring teeth to support a dental bridge, or hidden clasps placed around certain teeth to support a partial denture. Dental implants eliminate this concern by giving your replacement tooth or teeth a more lifelike, biocompatible anchor that mimics the form and function of a natural tooth root.
What to do when your restoration starts shifting
When conventional restorations are worn for a while, they can eventually start to lose their grip and move around uncomfortably when you bite, chew, speak, or smile. This can be resolved by having your dentist or oral health specialist adjust or replace the restoration to improve its fit. However, this will continue happening, due largely to the loss of stimulation in your jawbone and the resulting loss of mass and density. As your jawbone shrinks, your traditional bridge or denture will no longer fit the way it was designed to. However, with dental implant posts, your bridge or denture will help promote a healthier jawbone by providing the stimulation it needs to remain strong. This can reduce or eliminate the jawbone erosion that causes your dental ridge to grow smaller over time.
Dental implants can help you worry less about tooth loss
Tooth loss can be worrisome for many different reasons, but with the right dental implant restoration, you can restore your smile in a way that addresses all of them. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.