What should you do if you lose a tooth?
It really depends on how old you are.
If you are 8, then you should leave your tooth under your pillow for the tooth fairy. In the morning, you may receive a pleasant surprise.
Besides, losing your baby tooth means an adult tooth will be replacing it soon.
If you are 38, 48, or 88, then you need to call Bayou Dental Group to ask about getting a dental implant instead.
Our dentist office serves patients in and around Monroe, LA. And we have found dental implants are effective and safe at restoring the full use of your teeth.
Today, we want to share three ways dental implants could help you or someone you know who is missing teeth.
#1. Replace a single tooth
Losing a single tooth is more common than you may realize.
An adult with a full mouth has 32 teeth. Even if that person has his or her teeth wisdom teeth removed, he or she will still have 28 teeth.
Knowing this, can you guess how many teeth the average adult (ages 20 to 64) has in the United States? 24.92 teeth, according to the National Institutes of Health.
That means most American adults have lost at least three teeth on average, and that is assuming each one of those people had all their wisdom teeth removed.
That’s a lot of lost teeth and a lot of teeth that should be replaced.
To do this, you could get a dental bridge. This would involve reshaping the two healthy teeth beside the vacancy in your mouth. Then, you would have the bridge bonded to those teeth to span the gap.
Or, you could leave your healthy teeth alone and get a dental implant instead.
A dental implant would replace the root of your missing tooth. The implant is placed directly into your jawbone or your alveolar bone.
Your dental implant will have an abutment on one end, and we can place a dental crown on that abutment. This combination will make it look like you have a full set of healthy teeth, but maybe more importantly, it will allow you to continue eating just like you could before you lost a tooth.
#2. Replace multiple teeth
Losing one tooth is a problem, losing multiple teeth is worse.
Anytime you lose a tooth (and don’t replace it), you will start losing bone mass as well. Your roots keep your bones healthy. Your roots stimulate your bone whenever your bite or chew on something. This stimulation spurs new growth, which keeps your bones strong.
If you lose a tooth (and, therefore, a root), then you lose that stimulation in that part of your mouth. Within 12 months, you can lose up to one-fourth of your boss density in the part of your mouth that is missing a tooth.
If you are missing more than one tooth, that’s more bone mass you can lose.
Again, you could get a traditional dental bridge, which involves removing part of otherwise healthy teeth, or you could get an implant-supported bridge. With one or a couple dental implants, you can support a dental bridge without doing anything to your otherwise healthy teeth.
Again, the bridge and the implants will restore the appearance of your smile and your ability to bite and chew.
#3. Replace all your teeth
You probably know someone how has dentures, so you may be aware of some of the struggles that come with having dentures.
They can come loose when you are eating. They can fall out when you are speaking. They can become detached pretty much any time you move your mouth.
When they do remain in place, they can give you a lifelike smile, but that doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want. In fact, people with dentures have been proven to have a bite force of about 50 pounds per square inch. That’s just one-fourth of the 200 pounds of bite force most people have when they have all their teeth.
At our office, we offer implant-supported dentures as an alternative. Using as few as four or six implants (All-on-Four or All-on-Six), we can give your dentures greater strength and stability than you could hope to receive with denture adhesives.
In fact, research has proven that people with implant-supported dentures can regain a bite force close or equal to 200 pounds.
Now Or In The Future
In a perfect world, you won’t lose any of your teeth, so you won’t have any need for dental implants. In the real world, a majority of people will lose at least one tooth, and we hope you will come to our dentist office in Monroe, LA, if you do.
Dental implants from Bayou Dental Group can revive your smile and do so in a way that you won’t have to give up any of your favorite foods.
To learn more about dental implants or to make an appointment, call 318-323-9303 or fill out our online form.