Your smile gaps harm your self-esteem and oral health. At Bolingbrook Dental Care, Dr. Rani Seeth, Dr. Alina Huff, and Dr. Fatima Quadri offer cutting edge solutions: single-tooth implants or implant-supported bridges or dentures. Learn here how dental implants can help you regain a great smile.
What tooth loss does
When you lose a tooth due to accident, decay, gum disease or other circumstance, the effects are widespread. Losing just one tooth adversely impacts your:
- Personal appearance and self-confidence (tooth loss causes an aged appearance due to bone recession and sagging of skin and facial muscles)
- Jaw bone size (density, width and height of the alveolar ridge which holds tooth roots)
- Position and strength of teeth adjoining the gap
- Ability to digest food properly (due to poor chewing and consumption of softer, less nutritious foods, says the National Center for Biotechnology Information)
As such, the professionals at Bolingbrook Dental Care recommend tooth replacement with dental implants as soon as possible after tooth loss.
The implant treatment
You'll undergo a complete oral examination, including an analysis of your jaw bone suitability, to determine if you're a candidate. The vast majority of patients can receive implants.
Regarding the single-tooth dental implant, the oral surgery happens right at Bolingbrook Dental Care. It involves local anesthetic and a relatively quick insertion of the titanium implant (shaped like a screw or cylinder) into the jaw bone underneath the gums. Sutures close the site, and it begins to heal.
As the bone heals, it adheres to the implant. Titanium is a bone-loving metal, and the bond created is sure and permanent. Dentists call the bonding process osseointegration.
Unique to dental implants and no other dental prosthetic, osseointegration takes weeks to complete. At your next appointment, the dentist will re-open the implant site to bond a metal post and porcelain crown onto the implant.
Implant benefits
With your single-tooth implant or implant-supported bridge or denture, your jaw bone will strengthen every time you bite and chew. You'll brush and floss your new tooth just as you do your natural teeth. (You won't have to use messy denture adhesives or keep your teeth in a bedside cup.)
You'll speak clearly, eat efficiently and best of all, enjoy a natural-looking, beautiful smile for years. The Institute for Dental Implant Awareness says that most implants last for decades--in other words, for the rest of your life.
Learn more
For more information on today's best tooth replacement and how it can uniquely help you, call Bolingbrook Dental Care for a dental implant consultation. We are open Monday through Saturday. Phone our office in Bolingbrook, IL, (630) 739-5500.