**Dental Implants: Aesthetic and Health**
The absence of one or several teeth often causes self-esteem issues in certain patients, primarily due to an aesthetic component, but there is also a factor to consider: the oral health.
The lack of teeth can affect older individuals more significantly, but being older is not a prerequisite for facing the loss of one or more teeth. Before assessing implants as one of the best solutions to replace missing teeth, it is interesting to know the main causes of tooth loss.
Tooth Loss: What Are the Causes?
Tooth loss can have congenital or acquired causes and is independent of gender. Age itself is not a cause of tooth loss, but there are factors that can provoke it, and their worsening over time increases the risk of losing more teeth with age.
What are then the causes of tooth loss and edentulism?
- Poor Oral Hygiene Habits: Neglecting oral hygiene systematically or not having a good oral hygiene routine is often the root cause of tooth loss, as the most serious consequence of untreated diseases.
- Dental Diseases: The appearance of pathologies such as cavities or periodontitis, lack of prevention, and inadequate treatment can lead to very serious stages of the disease that may result in tooth loss in advanced stages.
- Mechanical Failure: Other possible causes for the absence of teeth may be accidents or traumas, as well as wear resulting from some malocclusions, continued poor bite, or bruxism.
When Is Dental Implant Treatment Necessary?
Dental implants have become one of the best, if not the best option for reversing tooth loss. When there are very pronounced diastemas due to tooth loss or because there are naturally large gaps between two or more teeth that cannot be corrected with other treatments such as orthodontics, implantology may be the solution.
Dental implants should also be considered in cases where the patient has tried other means for the replacement of missing teeth such as removable prostheses. When these types of treatments have not been successful, many patients turn to implantology to find a more comfortable and long-lasting solution. However, it is important to note that in the absence of teeth, time works against the patient, as bone resorption may occur, which could hinder implant treatment, although not make it impossible.
Advantages of Dental Implants
Here are some of the main advantages of dental implant treatment for tooth loss:
- They are very durable. They are a fixed solution for tooth loss, unlike removable dentures. Once placed, they are permanent, and the care routine is no different from that of natural teeth.
- They are very natural. Technological advances have allowed for a better adaptation of implants to natural teeth, and there is a wide variety of shapes and tones to adapt them much more to each patient’s mouth.
- They are safe. They are a long-term solution with a much higher success rate than people believe, almost reaching 100% over periods of 20-30 years.
- They are harmless. They do not cause damage to other natural teeth. During advanced implantology treatment, there is no damage to adjacent teeth as occurs, for example, with the placement of bridges. Additionally, the treatment is not as painful as one might think, and the postoperative period is less uncomfortable than that of other more common dental interventions.
- They prevent bone loss. Over time, it is natural for bone resorption to occur in areas where a dental piece has been lost. In addition to the aesthetic damage this causes, there is also functional deterioration as a result of the lack of bone stimulation from chewing. Dental implants promote osseointegration, that is, a direct molecular-level union of the implant’s titanium surface with the bone itself.
- They are cost-effective for the patient. Although the cost may be higher compared to other tooth replacement solutions, implants are usually more durable and safer, making them much more cost-effective in the long run.
- They improve the patient’s quality of life compared to those using partial or complete dentures because the adaptation period is much shorter, and there is no worry that the pieces will move.
Still have doubts? Below we explain how dental implants are the ideal solution to improve not only the aesthetics of your mouth but also your oral health.
Dental Implants to Enhance the Aesthetics of Your Mouth
The aesthetic disadvantages of not having one or several teeth are determined by the visibility of the gap left by the missing piece. Some patients, depending on the severity of the condition of their teeth, may end up avoiding smiling, feel embarrassed about their smile, avoid eating or speaking in front of others…
At an aesthetic level, implants provide security and confidence to these patients. Thanks to dental implants, they can regain their smile, feel better about themselves, and lose the fear of showing themselves as they are, no longer hiding their natural gestures or facial expressions behind their hands.
How Can Dental Implants Improve Your Oral Health?
Advancements in implantology, as we discussed in the previous points, allow for the recovery of one or several dental pieces and, in addition to representing an improvement in aesthetics, also represent a significant improvement in health. That is, patients undergoing dental implant treatment can regain the full functionality of their entire dentition to perform any type of activity with total naturalness.
The lack of teeth causes one of the most important inconveniences and one that can most affect the patient’s overall health, which is difficulty in eating normally. In addition to this serious problem, it causes other less evident but equally important issues that can be avoided with proper dental implant treatment, such as:
- Movements and displacements of other dental pieces towards the empty spaces.
- Greater wear and tear on the teeth that have to bear the load of the missing pieces.
- Bone loss
Advances in this area of dentistry make it possible for the placement of dental implants to become increasingly simpler and safer in more complicated cases, including those where bone loss or bone resorption is advanced. Nowadays, having little bone does not prevent a patient from regaining their smile and enjoying a fixed dentition through implants since there are bone reconstruction techniques that make it possible.
In our clinic, we are experts in advanced implantology and bone recovery techniques for subsequent dental implant treatment, and we have a team of professionals who, together with Dr. Liñares, are responsible for restoring the smile to those patients who suffer
the loss of one or several pieces. Additionally, we trust in the Straumann system®, one of the most successful in the world, with over 30 years of scientific experience and a survival rate of up to 98%.
Get More Information!
Do you want to know more about what dental implants are and how they are placed? You can visit our website section on Advanced Implantology, where we give a brief overview of the most important concepts, answer the most frequently asked questions about this treatment, and show you some clinical cases.
Would you like to schedule an appointment for us to evaluate your case? Do not hesitate to contact us through our social networks, through the Contact section of our website, or at our clinic. Remember that you can find us at San Andrés 90-96, A Coruña.