Replacing Lost Teeth with Dental Implants

You have a lot of choices when it comes to addressing most dental health issues. For instance, if you want to improve your smile’s appearance or restore a tooth that’s been damaged, we can customize one of several different cosmetic or restorative treatments to address it. When you experience tooth loss and need to rebuild your smile, however, your options are a little more limited. Your main choices are between a dental bridge or denture, depending on the extent of your tooth loss. However, most patients who lose teeth also have the option of supporting their prosthesis on one or more dental implant posts, which are designed to replace the roots of their lost teeth.

A closer look at losing a tooth

At first glance, the ability to give your replacement tooth or teeth a set of root-like anchors can seem like a luxury. For centuries, dental prostheses have performed admirably without them. However, the importance of replacing lost teeth roots is more important than you might realize. In addition to the improved level of support and comfort they provide your restoration, dental implants also offer vital support for your jawbone structure, which can suffer after losing one or more of the teeth roots embedded in it.

A replacement that comes with a root

While most modern dental bridge and dentures do a great job of appearing like healthy, natural teeth, they still rely on less-than-natural means of support. For example, a dental bridge needs a pair of dental crowns to stay in place. The crowns are attached to nearby healthy teeth, known as abutment teeth, which have to be modified to accept the bridge. However, with dental implant posts, your prosthesis comes with one or more prosthetic posts that mimic your teeth roots and anchor your prosthesis in place.

The advantages of dental implants

The ability to provide more comfortable and stable support for your replacement teeth is more than a luxury – it’s vital to ensuring the quality of your replacement teeth. As you bite and chew, your prosthesis will never become loose and shift along your dental ridges. Also, your jawbone structure regains the stimulation it needs to avoid losing some of its mass and density over time. This is a common problem resulting from the loss of your teeth roots, and it’s one that can only be addressed with the help of dental implants.

Benefit from dental implants

With dental implants, we can design a replacement for your lost teeth that more closely mimics your healthy, natural tooth structures. To learn more, schedule an appointment by calling Peddicord Family Dentistry in Ankeny, IA, today at (515) 963-3339. We also proudly serve patients of all ages who live in Bondurant, Polk City, Elkhart, Alleman, Cambridge, and all surrounding communities.