When you lose a tooth, you are probably keenly aware of the impact it has on your appearance, how you speak, and how it feels to eat. You may not know that when you lose a tooth, leaving it untreated can negatively impact your oral health.
When you have a gap in your smile, your remaining teeth tend to tip and shift toward the gap, much like pulling a book from a bookshelf—the remaining books become unstable. This tendency to shift can create problems with your bite, and your teeth may no longer come together correctly. Shifting teeth will change the landscape of your smile and may require orthodontic treatment to straighten and realign your smile.
Additionally, tooth loss leads to bone loss because your jawbone needs the roots of your teeth to stimulate bone regeneration. The act of chewing stimulates your tooth roots and jaw bone, without which the bone starts to recede.
If you’ve ever seen pictures of elderly toothless people, you may have noticed their sagging appearance and diminished jawline. When you replace a missing tooth with a dental implant, it not only acts as a space holder for your remaining teeth, keeping them in place, it also prevents bone loss because dental implants are made from metals that work with your body and integrate with your natural bone. Therefore, dental implants can maintain and improve your oral health for a lifetime.
Sometimes a dental implant can be placed on the same day as your tooth extraction. We will evaluate your health and plan accordingly. In these cases, it can even save you an additional surgery appointment! Dental implants are also highly convenient. You care for them much as you would care for your natural teeth. Impeccable oral hygiene is essential to the life of your dental implant. When cared for properly, they can last decades or even a lifetime.
Your Dental Implants in Jensen Beach, FL
We can place and restore your dental implants in the comfort of our Jensen Beach dental office. Dr. Chris Wigley is experienced in the successful surgical placement of dental implants and skilled in the art of dental implant restoration.
A fellow of the prestigious International Congress of Oral Implantologists, Dr. Chris Wigley has successfully performed hundreds of implant procedures, providing his patients with the best that modern dentistry has to offer. At your initial dental implant consultation, he will evaluate your bone density and health to determine the ideal way to address your unique needs, so you achieve the best results possible.
Your implant dentist in Jensen Beach, FL, will start by surgically placing a thin titanium post in your jaw bone; this process will take one to two hours. Once we place your dental implant, we will give it ample time to heal with your natural bone.
The healing process, also called osseointegration, allows your dental implant to fuse with the bone and soft tissue in your jaw. The dental implant is made from biocompatible titanium, meaning your body won't reject it and its strength allows you to chew and bite as normal. Healing can take a few months, but the result of having a permanent tooth replacement that can last you a lifetime is well worth the wait.
Once the healing has been completed and your implant has fused to your jawbone, we will then design a custom implant dental crown in Jensen Beach, FL, to achieve your smile. Your crown will match your natural teeth closely so that your smile appears seamless. No one will ever know that you have had a tooth replacement procedure, and it can function just like your existing teeth. You can continue eating your favorite foods without any concerns about your implant shifting or falling out.