If you are missing a tooth, you shouldn’t ignore it. It might be tempting to just live with that gap in your smile, but that’s a bad idea for a few reasons. It certainly doesn’t look good, but it can also lead to crooked teeth and a deteriorating jawbone.
Call our Winnipeg, MB dental office today at 204-977-8515 to make an appointment for a dental implant. This long-lasting dental restoration replaces a lost tooth with a durable replacement that makes your smile complete again.
What Is A Dental Implant?
Simply put, a dental implant is a tooth replacement. It’s used when you’ve lost a tooth due to gum disease, sports injury, or a needed dental extraction. It has three components:
- An artificial root made from titanium.
- A dental crown that serves as your replacement tooth.
- An abutment that securely connects the two.
The dental implant procedure is fairly routine. First, you’ll receive a thorough exam to make sure your jawbone under that spot is healthy enough to hold an implant. Then our dentists partner with a specialist in 3D imaging for the proper placement of the implanted artificial root. Finally, the replacement tooth will be connected to the root.
Why is there an abutment between the tooth and root? If you ever damage your replacement tooth, it can be replaced without having to remove the implanted root.
A Lucky Accident Made Them Possible
Believe it or not, the idea of dental implants is very old. Archeologists discovered evidence that the Mayans used shells and crystals as primitive implants for lost teeth. Most likely, they had a problem with getting the implant to stay in the jawbone.
That was solved by accident by a scientist researching how bones work. To study how blood flowed through bones, he had surgically implanted some tiny titanium rods in a rabbit’s leg bone. After collecting the data he needed, he tried removing the rods — but discovered they had fused with the bone. No other metal reacts that way.
After some more research into this lucky accident, dentists started making artificial tooth roots out of titanium. This allowed the dental implant to fuse with the bone, giving it a similar strength and stability to your natural teeth.
How Dental Implants Can Benefit You
The biggest reason you can benefit from a dental implant is by giving you a complete smile. But what does that specifically mean for you?
Dental implants can make it easier to chew and talk clearly.
This depends on what tooth is missing. If you have lost one of your back teeth, you could have trouble using molars to grind up your food. If you’re missing a front tooth, you could have difficulty tearing apart your food. Plus, you use some of your front teeth to pronounce words. Missing one of those could make it harder for people to understand you.
That’s where a dental implant can help. It replaces the lost tooth so you can chew and talk like you did before it went missing.
Dental implants help keep your jawbone healthy.
Whenever you chew, pressure from that goes down the roots of your teeth and into your jawbone. This provides a stimulation that helps keep the bone tissue there from deteriorating. When you lost a tooth, you also lost its root — and the stimulation that traveled down it. That means your jawbone can start to weaken.
Because dental implants include an artificial root, you can stimulate your bone tissues when you chew again. This can prevent bone deterioration in your jaw.
Dental implants can last 20 years.
No dental restoration lasts forever. Even cavities often need to be replaced after so many years. That said, a dental implant lasts a long time. Many people keep using their dental implant without a problem for 20 years or so. That translates into fewer trips to the dentist’s office for a new dental restoration.
Call Lakewood Dental Centre today at 204-977-8515 or use our online form to schedule your next appointment for a dental implant. After all, your teeth do not grow back. If you have lost one, you can enjoy these benefits and more with a dental implant.