The change in your quality of life after tooth loss can be drastic, and it can certainly be frustrating as well. Your immediate concerns can be cosmetic, as a visible gap left by losing a tooth can be embarrassing. In time, you can find that your incomplete smile makes once-simple tasks like biting and chewing difficult, which can lead to new issues. At our Ankeny, IA dentist’s office, we can give you back your full smile, and even improve your bite function, by moving forward with implant dentistry. Dental implants provide remarkable support for replacement teeth, allowing them to absorb pressure whenever you bite down or chew. They also allow you to keep a lifelike prosthetic in place so that your smile appears the way it did before your tooth loss!
A Single Missing Tooth Can Interfere With Your Bite
Your proper bite function depends on your maintaining your full set of teeth. In other words, just one missing tooth is all it takes to throw off your bite! Even if you feel comfortable working around a gap at first, in time you can put stress on your joints and muscles that will lead to chronic aches and pains. In addition to causing discomfort, this stress can make you more likely to begin grinding your teeth. A gap also leads to the overuse of your remaining teeth; in time, those teeth can wear down and be more vulnerable to problems that demand restorative dental work.
Receiving A Dental Implant
During an initial evaluation, we can make sure that you are ready to receive a dental implant. It may be necessary to do some preliminary work to address jaw problems or gum disease to ready you for your treatment. An evaluation will also give us a chance to identify the right spot to place the implant. From there, we can recommend the placement and discuss what you can expect from both the receipt of the implant and your recovery. In the course of healing, your jaw will actually fuse to the biocompatible post, which helps the implant imitate the functions of healthy tooth roots.
Other Benefits To Your Prosthetic Dental Treatment
While dental bridges also provide permanent prosthetic support, they are not able to do the work of imitating healthy roots. The implant you have in place is able to do this, leading to lasting support for your jawbone. The use of an implant also ensures that your prosthetic stays in place without the need to modify neighboring teeth.
Talk To Your Ankeny, IA Dentist About Dental Implants
At our Ankeny, IA dentist’s office, patients bothered by tooth loss can make plans to restore their smile with the help of dental implants. To find out more about our services, please contact Dental Impressions at (515) 965-0230.