Dental Implants: Regain Control over Your Smile

If you are missing any or all of your original teeth, you know how difficult it can be to bite, chew, smile, or speak with the same confidence you once had. If you have replaced these missing teeth with removable restorations, such as traditional full or partial dentures, you may still be worried about them slipping out of place. Even so, while removable dentures and dental bridges do help to restore the aesthetics of a smile, they do not address some deeper oral health problems associated with missing teeth. The bone and other underlying structures that once supported the tooth that is now missing continue to degrade, which can lead to hollowing of the face and shifting of the remaining teeth.

Thankfully, dental implants provide a solution to missing teeth that not only is long lasting and completely natural looking but also comes closest to replicating the full structure of a natural tooth. Dental implants are titanium posts that, once implanted in the jaw, serve as artificial tooth roots. Because titanium is not recognized as foreign matter by the human body, the posts are “accepted” as an organic part of the mouth. As a result, they integrate fully with the bone, halting the degradation that begins once the natural root no longer has a tooth to support. Dental implants can be used to support a single porcelain crown, a dental bridge, or even a full set of dentures. These restorations are attached beneath the gum line to complete the dental implant, which, as a result, looks, feels, and functions remarkably like a natural tooth.

No treatment in restorative or cosmetic dentistry surpasses dental implants as a means of replacing missing teeth. Implant dentistry truly allows people with missing teeth to regain the control they had when they had a mouth full of healthy natural teeth. In many cases, dental implants can be combined with other cosmetic and restorative dentistry treatments, including teeth whitening and porcelain veneers, as part of a comprehensive smile makeover plan.

To learn more about the extraordinary advantages of dental implants, contact the family and cosmetic dentistry practice of Manon Bourque-Hutchison, D.D.S., serving Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Broward County.