A Brief Look at How Dental Implants Work

You don’t have to know exactly how every dental treatment you receive works to benefit from it. However, knowing as much as you can about your options will help you ensure that you always choose the best treatment for your specific needs. For example, dental implants are a commonly recommended solution for replacing lost teeth because they provide patients in Encinitas/San Diego with a more stable and comfortable prosthesis. However, it’s the specific way in which dental implants work that make them so effective and why oral health experts typically recommend them.

The Problems They Solve

Typically, dental prostheses solve the problem of tooth loss by replacing the visible parts of your lost teeth (called the crowns). Bridge and dentures place lifelike replacements in the spaces left by missing teeth so you can regain your smile’s confident appearance and your bite’s ability to function. Dental implants, however, help your prosthesis solve a different problem – the loss of your teeth’s roots.

Dental Implants and Your Jawbone

The problem of lost tooth crowns can be obvious. Your smile’s appearance suffers, your remaining teeth shift, and your bite function diminishes. Yet, the loss of your teeth roots creates problems with your jawbone that a bridge or denture can’t solve alone. Losing a tooth root causes your jawbone to lose stimulation and gradually lose density as a result. Only dental implants can solve that problem by reestablishing that stimulation.

The Long-Term Benefits

After securing your prosthesis to an appropriate number of dental implant posts, you can immediately notice the lifelike stability and comfort. The longer-term benefits, however, aren’t immediately noticeable, but they’re more profound for the rest of your oral health. For example, reestablishing root stimulation stops your jawbone from losing density, which means it remains stronger and more able to support the rest of your teeth for life.

Find Out if Dental Implants Work for You

Dental implants are unique in the fact that they’re designed to become permanent parts of your jawbone’s anatomy. For more information about how dental implants work to rebuild your smile, schedule a consultation with Dr. Kania by calling her periodontal office in Encinitas/San Diego, CA, at (760) 642-0711.