Dental Implants: The Modern Solution to Tooth Loss

Dental implants are the most innovative way to replace lost teeth since we started replacing lost teeth eons ago. They are so effective that the idea of living with lost teeth at all may soon be a thing of the past. People everywhere are discovering that once you have dental implants, you are well set for the next decade or so, as you have to do nothing more than provide your regular dental hygiene to support these new fake teeth. So why do people need dental implants, anyway? For years, there has been a popular myth that tooth loss happens only to the elderly. Though never really spoken of, most people make this assumption. The sad truth is, tooth loss affects people across all spectrums and ages. In fact, over 69 percent of people over the age of 35 have lost at least one tooth. Few would argue nowadays that 35 is old age. Younger tooth loss means living with the consequences for much longer, which is where dental implants make such a huge impact.

We never really think of tooth loss until it is upon us. After all, it would take too much effort to consider all the things teeth do for you every day. From smiling to showing your emotion, to being the first link in the chain of digestion, to helping you enunciate words properly, teeth are literally the most under-recognized heroes of the body. Lose a tooth, and it becomes apparent how much they are used. Dental implants allow you to get back the teeth you have lost, strongly and securely attached in a manner that most closely reconstructs your natural occurrence of teeth and with a new tooth that looks, feels, and acts exactly like a natural tooth. The dental crowns we place on dental implants are often so realistic, even the patients forget they have a replacement at all. Part of this is due to the stability and security dental implants offer.

The dental implants of today are not made of bone or shell as they were hundreds of years ago. Instead, we have moved into an era where the devices are made of titanium. As an interesting side note, NASA uses titanium to make parts of space shuttles and other space gear because of its durability. This makes the little titanium implants in your mouth one of the strongest parts of your body. In addition to being relentlessly strong, the titanium implants bond perfectly with bone tissue. This adds significant amounts of strength and stability to the already strong implants. Biocompatibility is a major issue when you are dealing with prosthetics, so using titanium is a huge advantage for dental implants. But that is not the only advantage.

Dental implants do something that no prosthetic has been able to do before. They are able to replicate, almost perfectly, the symbiotic relationship between the jawbone and the root in a way that gives the jawbone the stimulation it requires and receives the stability it needs in return, for a win-win situation.