Americans, as a whole, are missing a lot of teeth — more than 150 million Americans have lost at least one tooth, and one in 10 Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have lost all their teeth. And the numbers only worsen from there as the age increases.
The silver lining in all of this is that we’re better equipped than ever to address tooth loss thanks to dental implants. It isn’t often that we get to call something game-changing, but dental implants have earned this title, which explains why 3 million implants are placed each year in the United States.
To shed further light on the benefits of dental implants for restoring teeth, we turn to the team of experts here at Willow Glen Dental Specialists. Let’s take a look.
Did you know that when you lose a tooth, you can also lose the bone in your jaw that held the tooth in place? Your jawbone is continually remodeling itself and building new bone, but if an area goes inactive, which happens when you lose a tooth, your body doesn't rebuild bone in that area.
In fact, not only does new bone not grow, but existing bone also gets reabsorbed into your body. This bone loss escalates quickly — on average, people lose 30% of their bone after tooth loss or extraction. And this bone loss can threaten the stability of neighboring teeth.
With a dental implant, we insert a metal post into your jaw that signals to your body that the area is still active. So, your body will stop reabsorbing the bone, and your jaw will retain more strength.
Of the available tooth replacement options, dental implants are, far and away, the strongest. As we already discussed, a dental implant involves a metal post that we place in your jawbone to act as the new “root” system. After placement, your jaw grows more bone around the post, effectively fusing it into place.
As a result, your dental implant is about as stable and secure as your natural teeth.
Since your dental implant becomes integrated into your jawbone, it’s an option that goes the distance and can last for decades.
Even if the crown that we place over the metal post breaks, we only need to create another prosthetic tooth and place it over your existing implant.
Once you receive your dental implant, there's nothing extra that you need to do to take care of your oral hygiene. Unlike dentures that need to be removed and cleaned, your dental implant is a permanent fixture in your mouth, and you treat it as you do your other teeth (and gums) by:
As you can see, there’s a lot to love about dental implants, which is why so many of our patients are smiling ear to ear.
To see for yourself why dental implants are the gold standard for tooth replacement, please contact our office in San Jose, California, at 408-478-9081 to schedule a consultation. You can also request your appointment using our online form.
