When you were a kid, you lost all your teeth and new ones grew in to replace them. As an adult, the best way to replace lost and missing teeth is with dental implants. (Plus, you have to pay for the replacements, and the Tooth Fairy isn’t going to leave enough money under your pillow to cover those costs, unfortunately.)
The thing you may not realize is that losing one tooth or a few teeth can increase your risk of losing more teeth. This can affect your smile as well as your ability to bite and chew food.
New Albany Implants can replace your teeth, restore your smile and your bite, and protect your remaining teeth at the same time.
Schedule a consultation with one of our dentists to learn more about how we can use dental implants with dental crowns or dental bridges to help you.
Dental Implants For Teeth Replacements
As a child, people thought it was cute when you lost a tooth. This might have made you talk funny until your permanent teeth came in.
As an adult, people have a different reaction to missing teeth. Fair or not, surveys have shown that people with “bad” smiles are considered less successful, less trustworthy, and less attractive than people who appear to have all their teeth.
Dental implants can and should be an important part of closing the gap in your smile. Before implants, your best option for replacing your missing tooth or teeth was a traditional dental bridge. This required grinding down two other healthy teeth so they could provide the support for your bridge.
If you make an appointment at New Albany Implants, you won’t have to damage healthy teeth to fill in the empty space. Our dental implants replace the roots of your lost teeth. Like those roots, the implants are embedded in your jawbone.
This serves as a secure and stable base of support for your dental crown or dental bridge.
And when everything is in place, your smile will look as good — and as natural — as ever.
Dental Implants To Restore Your Bite
Eating can be tricky when you are missing even a single tooth.
Your initial thought may be to just bite or chew on the other side of your mouth. In the short-term, that might seem OK. In the long-term, however, it could increase the risk of problems with those other teeth due to overuse.
At New Albany Implants, we want you to regain full use of your teeth even if some of your “teeth” are replacements.
With a dental implant, you have a replacement for the root of your lost tooth. When you add a dental crown, you have rebuilt your entire tooth. That includes restoring the full function of your tooth as well.
Call (812) 945-7645 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Receveur. He can examine your mouth and explain in person how implants can improve your replacement teeth.
Dental Implants Help Protect Your Remaining Teeth
This one is a little more complex to explain, but it’s worth the effort.
When you have all your teeth, they aren’t just individual pieces. They are part of a network of support for one another.
Your teeth also have a mutually beneficial relationship with your jawbone. Biting and chewing press your roots into these bones. That pressure signals that this part of your jaw is still being used. As a result, your jawbone will continue to create new tissue as the old tissue is reabsorbed.
Under normal circumstances, these factors will keep your teeth in the same place and your jawbone healthy and strong.
When your roots are removed, your teeth can start to shift positions, including drifting into the space where your lost teeth once were. Without your roots to provide pressure, your jawbone will begin to shrink. When your teeth are drifting and your jaw is shrinking, that’s a recipe for more lost teeth.
By replacing your roots with dental implants, you have a way to recreate the mutual support network. You also have a means of signaling to your jaw that new tissue is needed.
With dental implants in place, you are reducing your risk that you will lose more teeth.
It’s Not Just About Your Smile
Dental implants are used to restore smiles, but implants do more that keep you smile looking pretty. They will restore your bite, and they protect the natural teeth that you still have.
If you are interested in dental implants, visit our office in Southern Indiana.
To make your appointment at New Albany Implants, call (812) 945-7645 or contact us online.