As a dental speciality deals with implantology as well as various surgical procedures, most oral surgical procedures can be performed by general dentist who might have special interest in implantology and/or oral surgery.
Tooth Extractions
Tooth extraction is one of the most common dental procedures. Healing of the resulting extraction socket normally occurs uneventfully. However, even with completely normal healing, there is often some reabsorption or melting away of surrounding bone. Resulting in less height and width than were present prior to tooth extraction. In addition, as bone resorbs, overlying gum tissue also tends to lose both volume and its normal anatomic form. These changes can occur anywhere in the mouth but the most severe loss of bone and gum tissue tends to occur following the removal of incisor teeth located in the front of the mouth.
The Importance of Bone Preservation
Loss of bone and gum tissue following tooth extraction often results in both functional and cosmetic defects, eg. an unsightly collapsed appearance, especially in the front of the mouth where proper maintenance of tissue health is critical to normal aesthetics.
It often compromises the dentist's ability to adequately replace the missing tooth or teeth with either conventional removable or fixed bridgework or with a dental implant supported restoration. Sometimes the loss of bone is so severe that additional surgical procedures are required prior to replacing missing teeth.
Dental Implants - Solution For Life
Here is why:
Dental implants offer a long-lasting solution.
Normally, it serves its owner for life.
Preserve Healthy Teeth
Implants can stand on their own. They do not require the assistance of your natural teeth for support. Partial dentures and fixed bridges require some degree of ‘preparation' of the adjacent natural teeth. As mentioned above, the latter can involve grinding your teeth down to little pegs in order to attach the bridge. Even this may not ensure stability if the supporting teeth are loose or weak.
Preserve Bone
Healthy implants can preserve bone just like your own healthy natural teeth. No other option offers such solution. In fact, wearing dentures can accelerate bone loss, making the dentures less stable and more uncomfortable over time.
Preserve Facial Looks
When you loose the entire tooth crown and root, shrinkage of the jaw bone may cause your face to look older. Dental implants can stop this process.
Improved Comfort
Implants can be more comfortable than full or partial dentures. Dentures are supported either by soft gum tissues that cover the jawbones and/or by teeth. Over time, these structures can change and teeth can become loose, resulting in pain and discomfort. These unfortunate side effects are avoided with implants since they do not rely on the jawbones/teeth for support.
Improved Speech
Unlike implants, dentures shift inside your mouth causing mumblings, slurred speech and clicking noises. These problems can be eliminated with implants. Implant-supported replacement can securely anchor loose dentures that impede speech and enable you to speak with comfort and confidence.
Improved the Ability to Eat
Every denture wearer has to learn how to eat with dentures. They are never like your own teeth. Typical denture patients with excellent fitting dentures eat at 15 to 20 percent of the efficiency of people with natural teeth. Some people never get used to the discomfort and loss of taste and function associated with them. Implants, on the other hand, can restore your chewing efficiency to that of your natural teeth, since they are anchored to your jawbone. Implants can also improve taste by allowing you to have a full upper denture without covering your palate.
Improve Aesthetics
Implants can eliminate the need for the unsightly clasps that come with partial dentures. And since they don't rely on the adjacent teeth for support, they may eliminate the need for additional crowns, which sometimes have the side effect of damaging the appearance of your natural tooth.
Improved Quality of Life
Implants can eliminate the need for messy denture adhesives, special time-consuming oral hygiene techniques to clean around bridges, and other embarrassing inconveniences that come with dentures. Furthermore, considering all of the benefits mentioned above, implants can improve your self-esteem. By allowing you to regain the capabilities of your natural teeth, you can focus on enjoying life.
Keep Teeth Separate
Ideal implant placement allows treatment to be isolated to individual teeth. When one tooth of a bridge needs treatment, usually the whole bridge needs replacement. But now that implants are available, adjacent teeth do not need to be treated.
Reduced Long-Term Costs
With all benefits mentioned so far, the higher initial cost of implants and their restorations is usually offset in the long term by their high success rates, low maintenance, ability to keep treatment isolated to specific areas, and high patient satisfaction.
Trends
Today's dental implants are better than they have ever been. And with continued research, they will only get better. In the future, we can expect dental implants to become even more convenient. Improvements will likely include shorter healing time, less time for restoration, surgeries performed in one stage, simplicity of placement and restoration, and maybe even better aesthetic results.
Shouldn't you be considering dental implants then? They may be the best way to replace your missing teeth.
