When you lose a tooth, or should you lose several teeth, then you need replacement to avoid major issues with how you eat and even how you speak. For an option that looks and functions like a natural tooth, we can opt for dental implants. In today’s blog, your Celina, TX, dentist talks about how we support dental implants, sometimes same-day, to help return your smile to full function, health, and beauty again!
The Causes of Tooth Loss
Why do we lose our natural teeth? For some, this could be due to an injury to your face or jaw. For others, the loss of your natural teeth could be due to untreated cavities or infections, or in most cases, the onset of periodontitis. The advanced stage of gum disease actually destroys the tissues connecting your teeth and gums to cause missing teeth. As part of your treatment, we will need to assess the cause of your tooth loss, in case we need to great and manage underlying causes before we move forward with dental implant placement. A full smile is possible, and we want to help!
The Risks to Your Smile
When you lose teeth, this leaves behind gaps in your smile that could cause embarrassment. You may avoid social situations or even have trouble with clear speech. Tooth loss could limit your meal options and overall nutritional intake. You could also develop misalignment as teeth drift due to the open spaces in your bite, creating changes to the health and appearance of your smile. The stress in your jaw joints could boost the risk of TMJ disorder and bruxism (teeth grinding).
The most severe complication is the loss of mass and density in your jaw, which can happen as the body stops sending key nutrients to the jaw around the missing root. You then suffer from further tooth loss and an aged appearance! But we can help with dental implants.
Planning Your Tooth Replacement
To get started, we will take detailed digital images and x-rays of your bite to assess the cause of your tooth loss and the severity too. We want to choose the best angles, positions, and depths to insert your dental implant post, and we want to make sure your jaw can support them. Our team will also take steps to ensure your placement process is comfortable, which could mean not only a local anesthetic to the placement area, but sedation to help even anxious patients enter a deep state of calm, with little to no memory of the procedure afterward.
Jawbone Grafting
What if your jaw doesn’t have enough structure to support a new tooth root? Then we can conduct jawbone grafting, also known as ridge augmentation, to strengthen the lower jaw. We will add new structure from other parts of your body or from a synthetic source. This provides a new base to support your new roots. For the upper arch, we could discuss a sinus lift to uncover new structures in the upper portion to support your new dental implants.
Securing Dental Implants
Once you are ready, we will insert the dental implant post, which is made from biocompatible titanium, into the jaw. This will bond with the jaw and act like a new root, which means your new tooth can stay in place for decades to come, possibly even a lifetime! With the traditional option, we then wait for the placement area to heal before we attach an abutment and crown, or abutments and a bridge or denture. But for some, we can complete this in only one visit.
Same-Day Placement
Our team sometimes extracts weakened teeth and then inserts the dental implants. In the same visit, we will connect a crown to them or possibly a denture, so you leave with a full smile. If you have any questions about how we address missing teeth with dental implants, or if you want to start your journey to a full smile, then contact our team today to learn more. We want to help you smile with confidence and avoid the dangers of untreated tooth loss.
Ready to Schedule Treatment for Missing Teeth?
Our team is ready to replace your missing teeth, so reach out to our team today! To schedule an appointment with Celina Family Dentistry in Celina, TX, call (214) 851-0130. With dental implant placement, our team will support new tooth roots and offer a full smile again, so you can enjoy optimal oral health and results that not only look natural, but last for years to come too.
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