Dental Implants: Why They Matter

It’s easy enough to decide that your missing teeth don’t matter than much. Perhaps the gaps they’ve left are in the back of your mouth, hidden away from others. Maybe you just don’t really care that much about your appearance and think having a few missing teeth adds to your character. Well, unless your “character” is that of an 1800s era boxer or a hobo, your feelings on the matter are debatable. What isn’t debatable, however, is how much more there is to the benefits of dental implants besides prettying up your smile. Here are some of the reasons they matter.

Once a tooth has gone missing—particularly in cases where you’ve had it extracted—you’ve fundamentally changed the support structure of your jawbone. Don’t make the common mistake of thinking a tooth is just a tooth. Each tooth is interconnected to the framework of your jaw, forming an important synergy of bone. When one goes missing, the jawbone quickly sees that its support is no longer needed in that small area. What happens then is the jawbone begins to weaken and deteriorate. Not overnight, but over the next months and years. It can be treated with a bone graft if push comes to shove, but it is far preferable to stop it before it happens.

Dental implants replace the missing teeth and can prevent the kind of jawbone deterioration described here. Bridges and dentures can keep your teeth from sliding and causing greater gaps, but they can’t prevent this deterioration. Only the implant can do that, as nothing else approximated the look and function of the tooth nearly as well. The post replaces the root structure that has gone missing along with the tooth. When the jawbone feels this post in place, it know it still has a job to do.

But let’s face it, most people do care about their appearance. And nothing else can restore your natural smile like dental implants. If you’ve had problems with dentures before (some can’t stand the feeling), they could be just the thing you need to return to a normal smile. But beyond cosmetics, they will give you the ability to chew food and enjoy your meals the way you could before you lost your teeth. They act just like your former natural teeth in almost all ways. Best of all, though they require cleaning and maintenance to look nice (and your gums still need to be protected), they can’t rot or attract cavities.