Have you lost one of your teeth? What if you have lost several to poor oral health or injury? Whether you have a minor case of tooth loss or suffer from edentulism, you need a prosthetic to smile with confidence and enjoy your favorite foods. In today’s blog, your Celina, TX, dentist talks about how we offer full smiles with implant dentistry.
The Causes of Tooth Loss
A number of factors could lead to adult tooth loss. For some, this could be related to an untreated cavity or serious dental infection. Others could lose one or more to an injury. The most common cause is periodontitis, the advanced stage of gum disease that destroys the tissue connecting your teeth and gums. As part of your treatment, our team will carefully examine your smile to assess the cause of your tooth loss. We may need to treat some underlying factors before we move forward with dental implants, to ensure the success and longevity of your new teeth.
The Impact on Your Smile
When we lose our teeth, the gap could cause embarrassment and also lead to issues eating your favorite foods, which in turn deprives you of essential nutrients. For some, speaking clearly could be difficult too. Teeth could shift, creating misalignment that further harms your oral health and the overall appearance of your smile. The most severe complication is the loss of mass and density in your jaw, which causes the jaw to shrink. You develop further tooth loss and an older appearance, as the body will stop sending calcium and phosphorus to the jawbone around the missing roots. Don’t risk weakening smiles and an aged appearance, talk to our team about dental implants, which can strengthen the jaw and preserve your youthful facial features.
Planning Your Implant Placement
Every smile is unique, so we will begin by carefully examining the smile to plan the placement process, selecting the best angles, positions, and depths to insert the dental implant posts. Our team will also discuss options to ensure the experience is a comfortable and relaxing one for you, even if you have dental anxiety. Our team can offer a local anesthesia to the rear where the new root is being placed to keep you comfortable, and we also have dental sedation. With sedation, we will choose an option that helps you enter a calm state, with little to no memory of the procedure afterward.
Jawbone Grafting and Sinus Lifts
As we mentioned above, the lack of tooth roots means the jawbone could gradually weaken, losing mass and density. Which means you may not have enough jawbone structure to support one or more dental implants. Should this be the case, we can offer procedures to strengthen the weakened portions of your smile. For example, for the lower jaw we could conduct a grafting procedure to add new structures to the area, either taken from your own body or using synthetic or donor sources. For the upper jaw, we could complete a sinus lift, in which we raise the sinus floor to uncover new structures that can support one or more dental implants.
The Parts of a Dental Implant
Let’s talk about the dental implants themselves. Each one consists of the implant portion, the root that is made from biocompatible titanium. We will insert this into the jaw, where it bonds with the bone and acts like a natural root. This enables your new tooth to last for decades to come! The next part is the abutment, which extends above the gum line and provides a way for our team to attach the crown. The crown is the restoration that acts as the visible part of your new tooth, providing a durable chewing surface, a balanced bite, and a lifelike appearance that blends with your smile. If you have multiple missing teeth, we can use multiple posts to support a bridge or even a full set of dentures.
Same-Day Placement
In some cases, the time between the placement of the implant and the attachment of the crown or denture could take weeks or even months. But! We can sometimes offer same-day placement, in which we complete every step of the implant placement process in one sitting, and you leave with a new tooth or a full smile! If you have any questions, then contact our team.
Schedule Your Implant Placement with Celina Family Dentistry!
Our team wants to offer you the chance to enjoy a full smile. To learn more about the process of improving your smile’s strength and addressing your tooth loss, talk to a member of our team today at Celina Family Dentistry at (214) 851-0130 today!
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