Dental Implants

Dental Implants
November 1, 2004
WINK-TV
The condition of your teeth can impact your overall health because your ability to chew helps determine your overall food choices. Your teeth also help to preserve the shape of your face as you age. Today, dental implant treatment is the preferred method of tooth replacement. Dental implants replace missing tooth roots, helping to preserve the bone in the jaw and the original shape of the face. Because they replace the root, implants act as the anchor for the missing tooth, therefore eliminating the need to cut down the adjacent teeth. Dental implants form a stable foundation for replacement teeth that look, feel and function like your natural teeth.
The process is now quicker and easier and gaining in popularity. Most people who've lost teeth can choose between an implant and a fixed bridge. Removable bridges cost less, but can slip or impede speech and usually must be removed at night. With fixed bridges, one or moe false teeth are cemented to stable teeth on either side of the gap; those anchor teeth usually must be filed down and then crowned. Installing bridges generally last seven to ten years. Adjacent teeth are at increased risk for decay.
Implants avoid those problems. The implant itself is a titanium rod screwed into the jawbone. One or more replacement teeth are then cemented or screwed onto the rod. An entire set of teeth can be fixed to several rods. Implants may last 20 years or more.
For most people the main drawback of implants is the cost: about 2000 to 3500 per tooth and usually it's not covered by insurance.
You may want bridges, though, if you don't want to undergo oral surgery, which poses small risks of infection and minor complications. You may want to avoid implants if you have thin gyms which are likely to recede because of the implants.
To get a list of qualified dentists near you, contact the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, The American College of Prosthodontists, or the American Association of Oral and Maxiollofacial Surgeons.
Dental implants can preserve the integrity of facial structures by preventing bone resorption that would normally occur with the loss of teeth, the facial structures remain intact.