5 Benefits of Replacing Your Missing Tooth With a Dental Implant

If you’re embarrassed by a missing tooth, it’s time to learn more about dental implants. Why implants? Because they’re the closest you can get to recreating the appearance and strength of your natural teeth.

At Dentistry With a Smile in Livingston, New Jersey, Maria Victoria Sebastian, DDS, has years of experience using dental implants to help our patients regain their radiant smile and self-confidence.

Let’s explore the top five reasons dental implants are an awesome choice for replacing your missing teeth.

1. Restores your beautiful smile

Replacing the gap left by a missing tooth immediately transforms your appearance. But dental implants do much more than fill a gap.

The visible part of your dental implant is made from a porcelain crown. We customize the shape and size of your crown to fit with the rest of your mouth. The porcelain is also created to match the shade of your other teeth and has the same sheen and strength as tooth enamel, perfectly restoring a natural-looking, beautiful smile.

2. Works just like your natural tooth

A dental implant is just as strong as your natural tooth, allowing it to withstand the force of biting and chewing.

The implant is a post made of a special metal. After we insert the post into your jawbone, the metal fuses with the new bone that grows around it. After the bone fully heals, the post is tightly anchored in your jaw and serves as a sturdy replacement for your original tooth root.

3. Keeps your jawbone strong and healthy

Like all the bones in your body, your jawbone regularly eliminates old or damaged bone and replaces it with new bone. But your jaw stops producing new bone if it isn’t stimulated by pressure from your teeth and tooth roots.

As a result, a missing tooth causes progressive bone loss, a weak jaw, and loose teeth that may fall out. A dental implant protects your jaw because it serves the same role as a tooth root. The implant stimulates your bone, triggering new bone regeneration that keeps your jaw strong and healthy.

4. Can replace more than one tooth

You can get multiple implants to replace more than one tooth. We can also use implants to securely anchor a bridge or dentures.

That’s right — you can say goodbye to loose, uncomfortable dentures. Dentures can either snap on and off your dental implants or they can be permanently anchored in place with implants.

5. Preserves your remaining teeth

Each tooth in your upper and lower jaw is designed to support a certain amount of pressure from chewing and biting. All your teeth must be strong, healthy, and in their proper position to ensure one or more teeth don’t take on more than they can handle.

If you have crooked teeth, a misaligned bite, or missing teeth, the rest of your teeth take up the slack and sustain too much pressure. This leads to dental problems like cracked and broken teeth.

When a tooth is missing, the teeth on both sides of the gap also start to move because they need the original tooth and root to help hold them in place. Their movement adds even more pressure on your remaining teeth.

A dental implant that fully replaces your tooth and root is the best way to restore balance and protect the health of all your teeth.

Bonus benefit 6: Dental implants can last a long time

The longevity of dental implants depends on variables like your dental hygiene, the number of implants you receive, and your overall health. But if you take care of your mouth and practice good dental hygiene, you can look forward to keeping your dental implants for many years.

If you have questions about dental implants and if they’re right for you, call Dentistry With a Smile or book an appointment online today.