Dental Implants: Surgery, Benefits, and After-Care
Millions of Americans suffer tooth loss despite improvements in dental care. The reasons for the tooth loss are generally tooth decay, periodontal disease, and injuries. Earlier dental bridges and dentures were available as replacements for missing teeth. Currently, you can consider dental implants near you as optimal replacements for your missing teeth.
Aren’t you aware of what dental implants are? If so, please understand dental implants are artificial tooth roots that provide a stable foundation for fixed permanent teeth or removable replacement teeth custom created to match your natural teeth.
Benefits of Dental Implants
Dental implants have many benefits. Some of them are cited below for your consideration.
Dental implants appear and function like your natural teeth. The implants are designed to integrate with your jawbone ensuring they become permanent replacements in your mouth. If you prefer dentures instead of implants, the replacements shift and move in your mouth, making it challenging for you to chew foods or speak. Dental implants become part of your body, allowing you to speak and chew foods without concerns of your teeth slipping and shifting.
Sliding dentures make chewing foods challenging. However, dental implants function like your natural teeth permitting you to eat the foods you love confidently and without pain. Furthermore, dental implants help improve your overall health because they don’t require reshaping your remaining teeth like it is familiar with dental bridges. In addition, dental implants are incredibly durable and can last you for a lifetime with proper dental hygiene.
Are Dental Implants Suitable for Everyone?
Embedding dental implants requires oral surgery besides a recovery time of three to six months. Therefore if you are considering dental implants, you must be healthy and have healthy gums besides sufficient jawbone to hold the implant. You must also commit to good oral hygiene and regular dental visits besides quitting smoking. In addition, if you have conditions like diabetes or heart disease, you may not qualify for implants.
If you are successful in qualifying for the implant procedure, the initial step of the process is creating a personalized treatment plan to address your specific needs and prepared by dental implants in Jackson specially trained and experienced in oral surgery.
After the planning, the dental implant, a tiny post made from titanium, is embedded in the edentulous socket of the missing tooth. As your jawbone heals it integrates around the implanted post to anchor it securely in your jaw.
After the implant has integrated with your jawbone, a tiny connector post called an abutment is attached to it for securely holding your new tooth. Your new replacement tooth is custom created in a dental laboratory and made from porcelain to appear like your natural teeth. Eventually, the replacement tooth called a dental crown is attached to the abutment to complete your dental implant procedure.
Is It Uncomfortable Having Dental Implants?
You will likely not experience any discomfort when receiving dental implants in your mouth. The surgical process is performed under anesthesia, either local or sedation, if you are overly anxious about dental work. You might remain awake during the surgery for your safety and cooperation but will likely experience no pain as the dentist near you performs the procedure.
You can return home the same day after undergoing surgery. However, you might experience discomfort from the surgery as the anesthesia begins wearing off. Even as the ache starts, there is no reason for you to worry because dentists recommend a prescription or over-the-counter painkillers to manage the pain. The discomfort from dental implant surgery will likely remain with you for a week or ten days, during which time you must exist on a diet of soft foods to ensure you don’t irritate the implanted post. You must also keep your mouth clean to ensure you don’t attract infections around the implant. The waiting time to get your artificial tooth may appear lengthy but is essential because the titanium implant must osseointegrate with your jawbone. You will find the wait worth it because when you eventually have the artificial tooth in your mouth, it remains indistinguishable from your natural teeth and allows you to have all the foods or perform activities you did earlier with your natural teeth.
After-Care for Dental Implants
Dental implants don’t require any special attention so long as you pay proper attention to them, like your natural teeth. So long as you continue brushing your teeth two times per day for two minutes each with fluoride toothpaste, floss your teeth at least once and schedule six monthly appointments with your dentist, you can rest assured the implanted tooth will remain in your mouth for a lifetime.
If you are looking for tooth replacement solutions, Arbor Falls Dental and Wellness provides dental implants that function like your natural teeth. Please contact them for the replacements you need.