Who is a Candidate for Dental Implants?
There’s a number of reasons why a person loses a tooth or multiple teeth – accidents, periodontal disease, etc. – but regardless of the reason, if you’re missing one or more teeth you could be a candidate for dental implants. It’s important to make an appointment with your dentist to go over all the pros and cons of implants and what is the best possible solution for you.
Dental implants are a very popular solution as they are the closest thing you can get to natural teeth. It’s essentially a replacement tooth. They’re designed specifically to look just like your other teeth and they can fill in for one missing tooth or for multiple missing teeth.
What are the benefits of getting dental implants?
There’s an array of pros to getting dental implants as replacement teeth. First and foremost, being an improved self image. Missing a tooth or teeth can cause many to be extremely self conscious about their smile. Everyone deserves to feel comfortable in their smile, especially when engaging with others or taking pictures – dental implants can be a great solution for that.
They also boost confidence in other areas like eating and speaking. Missing teeth can sometimes limit your ability to eat the foods that you want. If missing several teeth, this could even lead to other issues like malnourishment. With dental implants you can rest assured that you can have a normal, healthy diet and partake in eating the foods that you really want to. Missing teeth can also have a large effect on one’s ability to speak properly. Having those gaps filled in with these replacement teeth will often times completely repair any type of speech impediment that was present prior. This usually greatly improves a person’s self confidence and quality of life.
Another pro to getting dental implants as opposed to other methods is that you get to keep the health of your other teeth in tact as well. Dental implants don’t involve altering the surrounding teeth to the point that other methods do, therefore the longevity of your overall oral health is improved. Implants also allow for easy cleaning around the teeth which makes for better oral hygiene as well.
Who is Not a Candidate of Dental Implants
While dental implants are a perfect solution for many, for some it wouldn’t be the right direction to go in. A dentist will examine you to see if this solution is right for you. There’s a couple of main factors that your dentist will take into consideration when deciding if implants are right for you. It’s extremely important that the health of your gums is good as well has having good bone density in your jaw. The implants are attached to your jaw and gums, therefore they need to be in good structural condition to withhold the implants.
If you currently have gum disease, you will not be a good candidate to get dental implants. Your jaw also needs to be strong enough to hold the implant, hence why bone density will be one of the deciding factors. Your dentist also needs to be sure that you will uphold a very good dental hygiene routine after receiving implants as it’s extremely important for the overall success of the procedure and especially for the healing process.
We like to make sure that all of our patients understand that getting dental implants is a multistep process and the healing takes time. It may take a few weeks or even a few months to complete this process and it’s healing. The recovery time will also be directly correlated to how well you follow your dentist’s directions on best practices to follow for oral hygiene. The procedure and process are well worth the ending result but it takes time and commitment which should be taken into consideration before deciding if this is the right solution for you.
What is the Difference Between Implants and Dentures?
This is one of the most common questions we get from patients when they’re trying to make a decision on how to repair their smile. There’s pros and cons to both solutions and it’s important to look into both so you can make an educated decision about what is the best for you.
Implants are actually implanted into your jaw and gums and are a very close replica of the natural teeth. Like we mentioned previously, little altercations have to be done to the surrounding teeth. Caring for them is easy as it’s the same as caring for your natural teeth. The main downfall that some find with implants is that the initial cost is more expensive than dentures.
Dentures typically cost less in upfront costs and are also a great solution. They are designed to look like a real, natural smile. You can either full or partial dentures which means they can be designed to replace an entire row of teeth on the top or bottom, or simply fill in where teeth are missing.
Dentures can take some getting use to as they do feel different than natural teeth, but you will get use to wearing them. A pro is that with today’s innovations, dentures are being improved to feel more comfortable and look more natural. One of the downfalls is that they do tend to slip around sometimes, and if they do slip out of place when eating or talking to someone it can cause a great deal of embarrassment.
While dentures are less expensive on the front end, you still have to consider the back end costs of special cleaners and having them replaced every so often. Once taking all combined costs into consideration, some find that implants actually end up costing less in the long run. However, for those who are not a candidate for implants, dentures are a terrific solution.
Let Us Help You
It may seem a little overwhelming at first when deciding how to go about repairing your smile and that’s why we’re here to guide you. Here at our Bakersfield Dental Center, our experienced dentists would love the opportunity to go through all your options with you and help you make a choice that’s right for you.