How You Can Have a Great Smile – Even After Tooth Loss

Tooth loss is something we talk about much more openly today than we ever have. In addition to having a better understanding of what can lead to tooth loss, we also have ways to mitigate this problem. One of the small details about this common dental problem is that, most often, tooth loss doesn’t mean that one or more permanent teeth fall out. In a large percentage of situations, what happens is that a tooth becomes so severely loose or painful that it needs to be extracted. Sometimes, this happens to such an extent that all-natural teeth need to be replaced with something better. For many of the patients of our Houston practice, that something better is dental implants.

Why Dental Implants are a Great Alternative to Dentures

Dentures have historically been go-to for people needing a new set of teeth. More and more, though, we see a transition toward dental implants. Here are some of the reasons why:

• How much better can restorative care get than setting you up for a future in which functional, attractive teeth are the norm? Because the tiny titanium posts we call implants integrate into the bone of the jaw, there is a strong chance that replacement teeth can last forever.
• Dentures are removable fixtures. They need to be (very) carefully cleaned on a routine basis. Otherwise, a foul odor may develop due to bacterial accumulation. Dental implants aren’t even situated where you can see them. To properly care for replacement teeth, what you need to do is brush well every day and avoid tobacco products.
• Replacement teeth don’t do much good if they don’t stay in place, do they? If you have already worn dentures, you may have experienced exactly what we’re talking about. The reason why traditional dentures simply can’t beat dental implants on the performance front is that they have nothing to anchor them. Today, a few implants are commonly used to anchor full-arch dentures.

There are several more benefits that patients experience when they choose implants as a part of their restoration process. Learn more about this aspect of tooth replacement. Call (281) 265-7645.