Replacing missing teeth can dramatically improve your smile and the shape of your face. This greatly enhances both your dental health and self-esteem!

An Off-bite Relationship can be disastrous!

Having gaps where teeth are missing affects the way the jaw closes. The remaining teeth begin to tilt and drift into the gaps. In addition, food can become trapped in these spaces, increasing the risk of decay and gum disease. The tilting and drifting can also cause problems for the opposing teeth. An opposing tooth will begin to hyper erupt and begin to drift into the open space of the missing tooth, causing the opposing jaw-line to have bite relationship problems; thus beginning TMJ problems (problems with the jaw joint).

Avoid Jawbone Deterioration!

As soon as a tooth is lost, either from gum disease or an extraction, the supporting bone in the jaw begins to dissolve.  This process is called resorbtion. The longer a tooth is missing, the greater the bone loss.

Over time, resorption of the jawbone has a considerable effect on quality of life and on the possibility of replacing the missing teeth.  As teeth are lost it becomes more difficult to eat and chew food. Studies have shown that 29 percent of denture wearers eat only soft or mashed foods and 50 percent avoid many foods altogether.  And over time, more and more of the jaw bone disintegrates until it becomes very difficult to place any dental restoration.

Benefits of Replacing a Tooth Immediately!

A tooth should be replaced as soon as it is lost. This will retain your oral health by preventing bone loss, reducing movement of surrounding teeth and avoiding excess decay.

Teeth provide more functions than just the ability to chew. They are necessary for the health of the gum and jaw tissues as well, and a prolonged absence of a tooth will severely limit the possibilities for restorations.  Missing teeth may also affect your confidence and well-being. As you can see replacing the missing or bad tooth immediately is critical and could also have an effect on the …………

Success Rates of Dental Implants

Dental implants are among the most successful procedures in dentistry. There is no guarantee that an implant procedure will be successful, but studies have shown a five-year success rate of 95% for lower jaw implants and 90% for upper jaw implants. The success rate for upper jaw implants is slightly lower because the upper jaw (especially the posterior section) is less dense than the lower jaw, making successful implantation and osseointegration potentially more difficult to achieve. Lower posterior implantation has the highest success rate for all dental implants.

Dental implants may fail for a number of reasons. The cause is often related to a failure in the osseointegration process. Dental implants may break or become infected (like natural teeth) and crowns may become loose.
If you are a smoker who is considering a dental implant, your dentist will likely advise you to give up smoking before undergoing the process because smokers face a higher risk of implant failure. Since the procedure can be extremely expensive, you risk wasting your money on dental implants if you do not give up the habit.

On the plus side, dental implants are not susceptible to the formation of cavities; still, poor oral hygiene can lead to the development of peri-implantitis around dental implants. This disease is tantamount to the development of periodontitis (severe gum disease) around a natural tooth.

Because of the great success rate of dental implants………

Exciting New Procedural Strategies

Dentists trained to perform implants; crowns and/or surgery have begun to use a new strategy for the replacement of missing teeth. Dental implants are placed into locations where teeth have recently been extracted. When successful, this new strategy can shed months off of the treatment time associated with dental implants because of the need for only one procedure. Candidacy for this type of early intervention is dependant upon anatomical factors of the extracted tooth site. For example, in many cases the extracted tooth site is wider than the implant, making it impossible to place the implant into the site immediately after extraction. Dental bone grafting would have to be performed first in order to create a perfect fit for the implant.

Another strategy for implant placement within narrow spaces is the incorporation of the mini-implant. Mini-implants may be used for small teeth and incisors that were previously unrestorable with implants.

Because of their success dental implants become the standard of care in replacing missing teeth.  I hope this report was helpful to you in your decision to have a dental implant.

Plano dentist , Dr. Thompson maintains his private dental practice  (Imagecare Dental) in Plano, TX. For more information on this or any other dental topic, please visit: www.imagecaredentalgroup.com .    If you have questions for Dr. Thompson, please send an e-mail to: patientcare@imagecaredentalgroup.com or mail him a 6841 Coit Rd, Plano, TX 75024