Losing your tooth can disturb your quality of life significantly. It also creates difficulty in everyday activities like speaking and eating. Although, procedures for modern dental restorative result in a massive reduction in the number of teeth extracted every year; however, people still live with one or more missing teeth (natural) in their mouth.
According to an estimate, nearly 70% of Americans aged 35-44 lose at least one of their natural teeth. If you are among them and searching for a lifelong replacement option to fill in your missing tooth, then dental implants using titanium alloy implant material must be your go-to choice!
What is a Dental Implant?
It is a fixture that is connected within jawbones and replaces organic teeth by supporting a prosthesis like a fixed or removable denture or crown. After placing dental implants, bone formation starts to form in the implant’s surroundings. This results in stability and firm anchorage of the artificial tooth.
How Do Dental Implants Operate?
With excellent durability, the success of dental implants heavily relies upon their capacity to create direct contact with the neighboring jaw bone. This process is called “osseointegration”. This process assures that any prosthesis placed over the implant remains stable and retained. It thereby restores the optimal functioning of the new artificial tooth.
Who Should Go for an Implant?
Generally speaking, any person having one or more missing natural teeth can be a candidate for a dental implant. You can consider going for an implant if:
• You need a long durable and term replacement for your missing natural teeth
• You need to enhance your facial esthetics by getting the missing teeth replaced
• You need to speak and eat with ease
• You need to get rid of your uncomfortable and inconvenient dentures
Why Are Implants Preferred Over Other Dental Prosthetics?
Dental titanium alloy implants are among the widespread procedures as they are the most durable and convenient replacement option for missing teeth.
Let’s take a deep dive into why you should prefer them over other available dental options, such as bridges and dentures:
• Enjoy a Beautiful Smile – Loss of a tooth can ruin your smile and facial esthetics. The esthetically pleasing dental prosthesis can be placed over the implants, thereby restoring your beautiful smile and charming appearance.
• Durability –
Unlike dental bridges and dentures, dental implants last forever. If you take care of your oral health properly and comply with your dentist’s instructions concerning the implants, you should expect them to work for a lifetime.
• Minimal Need for Tooth Preparation –
Fabrication of teeth bridges, even single tooth replacement needs a reduction of the adjacent teeth too. On the flip side, dental implants placement does not demand any reduction or preparation of the adjacent teeth, thus preserving the structure of a natural tooth.
• Eat Food as You Wish–
People using removable or fixed dentures have to avoid eating sticky and hard foods. This means they are forced to miss out on their favorite foods. After your teeth replacement with dental implants, you can easily enjoy your favorite foods without the need to fear dislodging or breaking your dentures.
• Improved Oral Hygiene –
Maintaining maximum hygiene around dental bridges is difficult as the brush’s bristles are unable to erase food particles present beneath them. As a result, extra oral hygiene measures might be needed to get optimal dental health.
Unlike bridges and dentures, dental implants are easy to clean in the same way as you clean your natural teeth. Thus it allows you to maintain quality physical health and oral hygiene.
• Comfort –
Dentists embed dental implants within the jaw bone same as your natural teeth. When you supplant your missing tooth with a dental implant, you obtain the same level of convenience, comfort, and natural feeling as you get with your natural teeth.
How Are Dental Implants Placed?
Dental implants placement is carried out in different stages. However, one-step implant placement procedures are gaining popularity.
The following steps are involved in the placement of dental implants:
• Treatment Plan Formulation –
Before an implant’s placement, a dentist takes a detailed look at your dental and medical records, followed by carrying an extensive clinical examination of the oral cavity. This process is important to make sure you are a suitable candidate for an implant procedure, and to prepare a treatment plan that is made as per your dental needs.
• Administration of Anesthesia –
Since the placement of the implant is a surgical process, your dentist would anesthetize the area where the implant will be placed. As a result, you will remain pain-free and comfortable throughout the procedure.
• Reflection of Soft Tissues –
In this step, your dentist will devise an opening over the oral soft tissues. It will expose the underlying jaw bone.
• Placement of the Implant –
The dentist drills the hole inside the jaw bone in a way that is slightly narrower compared to the actual thickness of the implant. The dental implant is then screwed or tapped carefully into position by applying controlled and precise forces. It is also important to make sure your dentist uses implant material from a quality titanium bar manufacturer.
• Provision of a Prosthesis over the Implant-
In case you plan a two-step implant placement procedure, a tool called healing abutment is placed over the implant. Also, the overlying soft tissues are sutured to let the healing of surgical area.
Once healing takes place, the healing abutment is uninstalled and a prosthetic is fixed to the implant. Alternatively, if instant implant loading has been planned, a prosthetic is placed immediately over the implant.
