Your Jawbone and Face Need Dental Implants

When you get dental implants, you are getting the most secure prosthetic that comes with a significant peace of mind. Implants are installed with a success ratio of between 92% and 98%, which means there is almost no chance that the implant won’t work for you. What is amazing is how the implants make a person’s quality of life so much better. If you have never had a tooth replacement, having the implant will once again give you the full range of activity with the lost tooth. You will be able to eat, bite, chew, and speak clearly as if you had never lost your tooth in the first place. If you have already replaced teeth with a bridge or a denture, your new dental implants will help you to be rid of those messy adhesives, hooks, and clasps. Instead, you will have a device that is surgically installed and completely permanent, just like you real teeth are or were.

Externally dental implants are the future. They look, feel, and act like a real tooth. In fact, many of our patients tend to forget what tooth was surgically placed into their mouth after some time has elapsed. Certainly none of your friends or family will be able to identify what teeth are dental implants. Beyond their outstanding appearance, the true strength of an implant is below the surface. A few decades ago scientists discovered that titanium has a unique quality. The metal is able, through a process known as osseointegration, to synch perfectly with the organic matter in your body, including bone. What this allows us to do then is to place a tiny metal screw, known as a dental implant, directly into your jawbone. This screw is so proficient at acting as part of a new tooth that the body itself is convinced that the implant is part of the mouth and will support it. From the dental implants perspective, this means that the implant will be extremely secure, but the implant actually does more. Since the body is convinced that the implant is a real tooth, the implant actually helps the jaw bone to develop.

The jawbone has two primary functions. Of these, the body supports only one. The function that the body believes that the jawbone is supposed to be doing is providing a strong and stable anchor to the teeth themselves. This creates a symbiotic relationship between the teeth and the jaw. The jaw provides security and stability while the teeth provide stimulus every time you bite or chew. As long as the natural teeth are in place this works. However, when you lose teeth, the stimulus goes away. Naturally the body then assumes that the jawbone no longer has a function to perform and very quickly starts to resorb the jawbone. Essentially what will happen is the body will withhold, and even leach vital minerals like calcium from the jaw. The jaw will start to diminish. This would not necessarily be a challenge if not for the second function that this bone performs – maintaining the facial structural integrity.

As your jawbone dissolves, it will start to negatively impact your appearance making you look older. Your chin could shrivel, your lips will get pulled inwards, and you will develop deep marionette lines. Since the dental implants convince the body that they are teeth, placing them immediately starts the reversal of resorption in order to restore your jawbone and appearance.