Dental Implants Are More Popular Than Ever, Find out Why
Experiencing pain in your jaw can quickly put you in a bad mood by making it uncomfortable to eat, sleep, exercise or even carry a conversation. Often times, jaw pain is the result of tooth loss and a misaligned bite.
Bridges and dentures were used most often in the past to help with missing teeth, but they are far from comfortable and can inconvenience you more than they help you. However, people who have missing teeth and jaw pain can now opt for dental implants and solve their problems.
What Are Dental Implants?
A dental implant is a small biocompatible titanium post that acts as your tooth’s missing root and holds a perfectly-fitting replacement tooth called a crown.
Can I Get Dental Implants?
In most cases, yes. However, it is recommended that you first get a full exam from a qualified dentist to see whether your jawbone and gums are healthy enough. Sometimes a bone graft is required to overcome various problems with your jaw. Initial recovery is a few weeks, but it takes 6-9 months before you can start placing implants.
How Do Dental Implants Work?
Firstly, foundation posts are screwed into your jaw and they fuse with the bone after a while practically becoming a part of your mouth. Once your jaw has healed a bit, a dentist will place a connector post which will attach to your new teeth. The replacement tooth or crown is modeled with the help of mouth or bite impressions so that they look natural.
What Is the Success Rate for Dental Implants?
According to WebMD, [1] dental implants have an overall success rate of up to 95% depending on the exact location where implants are placed and the number of teeth that need replacement.
Advantage of Dental Implants
Benefits to Oral Health:
Unlike other replacements, dental implants let you continue with normal oral hygiene. They’re also permanent and don’t affect surrounding teeth as bridges do, for instance. Once you receive a dental implant, you can clean and floss between natural teeth and implants without any trouble.
Durability and Comfort
Some people may be fearful when they hear the word implant, but in most cases, patients who have received dental implants report feeling very little pain, less than when taking a tooth out. [2] The dentist performing this procedure can also use local anesthesia and additional shots to help numb the area and put you at ease.
Oral Hygiene with Dental Implants:
Oral hygiene after getting a dental implant doesn’t change much: you have to go in for routine check-ups, brush your teeth twice a day and floss. There’s no special routine that you have to follow such as the one required with dentures.
Should I Get Dental Implants?
Implants look, work and feel like real teeth and require no special care other than typical oral hygiene. Moreover, they are very durable, and success rates of implants are close to 100%
[1] https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/dental-implants
[2] https://www.sharecare.com/health/dental-implant-oral-health/dental-implant-procedure-painful