While many restorative dental procedures provide great aesthetic benefits, there are few that provide the comprehensive and life-changing improvements of dental implants placed after tooth loss or extraction. When you elect to undergo this procedure, you are taking steps to ensure your smile returns to its former health, beauty, and function.
What are Dental Implants?
When a patient has missing teeth, the immediate goal is usually to fill in any gaps as soon as possible. While traditional methods have historically provided uniformity, they do not offer health benefits similar to dental implants. Before deciding to follow this treatment path, dental professionals examine each patient thoroughly to ensure there are enough jawbone volume and strength to effectively support the implant.
Dental implants are titanium posts implanted into the jaw, acting in place of the natural tooth root. Once healed, dental implants provide added stability for a more comfortable and secure fit of a dental restoration, such as a crown, bridge, or dentures. Typically, the area where the implant is placed needs an appropriate amount of healing time, but there are cases where a patient can have the extraction performed, an implant placed, and restoration attached all in one day.
The Benefits of Dental Implants
The correlation between dental implant placement and quality of life improvement is clear. When choosing to do nothing about missing teeth, a patient will not only experience unsightly gaps, the jawbone starts to shrink from the lack of stimulation, eventually causing a sunken and unhealthy look. Removable dentures or bridges may fill in the gaps, but the jaw still doesn’t experience the stimulation that helps maintain vitality.
The implant posts keep the jaw tissue strong, and the titanium material used is biocompatible for an unmatched health benefit. The implants support your restoration securely, leaving no opportunity for them to slide or slip out of place. This allows for improved confidence and an easier time properly chewing food as well.
This tooth replacement option not only improves a patient’s confidence, their permanence allows for easy care and maintenance.
Contact Us in St. Louis Today
As one of the first periodontists in the country to start performing dental implant placement, Dr. George Duello understands the life-changing benefits of this important restorative procedure. If you are interested in learning more about dental implants in St. Louis, call our dedicated team of professionals today to set up an appointment.