Dental Implants vs. Dentures - Making The Right Choice
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There's no shortage of blogs out there waxing lyrical about the benefits of dental implants. They are, in many ways, the pinnacle of today's dental technology. But it's still worth paying homage to them even in the context of near-universal adoration. They're just so darn good!
The whole purpose of cosmetic dentistry is to improve a person's aesthetic. Often, you'll have a patient arrive at a dental clinic with severe problems with their teeth and gums, not thinking that anything can be done about them.
The great thing about dental implants is that you can use them to remedy all kinds of aesthetic and medical issues, regardless of the condition of your teeth and gums. By fixing directly into the jaw bone, implants bypass all of the other structures in the mouth and provide an instant platform on which to build stunning teeth. With dental implants, nothing gets in the way of creating a beautiful smile.
Are dental implants an art form? Arguably they are.
Let's take the example of a person who goes to the dentist to reconstruct their upper and lower rows of teeth entirely. The first part of the procedure is to remove any remaining existing teeth. Often, patients will lose most of their teeth, not all, but in many cases, it's better to start anew.
The dentist then attaches four to six posts strategically to both the upper and lower jaw to provide a scaffold for the new crowns to fit on top. Full smile replacement differs from regular implants. For regular implants, you screw a post into the jawbone and then attach a single crown on top which looks exactly like an individual tooth. With a whole mouth reconstruction, you attach a row of prosthetic teeth all fixed to each other, to simulate the appearance of naturalteeth.
Here's where it becomes an art form. It's up to the dentist and their laboratory to design and create a row of teeth than not only looks great but also fits the patient's mouth. This task is easier said than done. Each patient has a slightly differently shaped jaw. Specific tooth sizes and shapes may suit one person more than another. There are no hard and fast rules here that dentists can obey.
What's more, dentists can't always base the new implant on an existing mold of teeth. Many patients don't have enough teeth in the first place, or if they do, they aren't a desirable shape. It's up to the dentist to sculpt a new set of crowns that not only fits the mouth of the patient but also complements their face. It's not easy.
It's not just the teeth that dentists sculpt either when creating prosthetics to sit on top of the implanted posts: they also recreate gums. Many people whose teeth are in poor health suffer from receding gums. Infection gets into the gums, damages the tissue, and then kills it off, causing the gums to expose more of the teeth below. It doesn't look great.
Just inserting crowns on top of posts in gums is not a complete solution. Sure, the tooth looks great, but more of it is exposed than looks natural.
Dentists, therefore, can also make simulated segments of gum out of acrylic to mimic natural, fleshy gums which look great. The acrylic is pink, just like regular gums, and surprisingly true to life. The best cosmetic dentists spend as much time thinking about the shape of the gums as they do the teeth.
Dentures are an effective way of replacing lost teeth and providing a regular biting surface. But they are notoriously temperamental. If you bite down too hard on a denture, it can become looseand, in some situations, fall out of the mouth altogether. There's got to be a better way!
Implants are an upgrade from dentures that do not come with all of the annoying complications. An implant perfectly mimics the properties of a regular tooth, allowing you to eat whatever you like, whenever you want.
Like dentures, patients use implants to replace everything from a single tooth to an entire row ofteeth. Implants, however, avoid the problems of dentures while providing a superior look. With implants, you can bite down on toffee, applies, and big juicy steaks without worrying about themfalling out.
We'd all like to have a set of beautiful, white, shiny, and healthy-looking teeth. Unfortunately, it's not something that everyone can get naturally. People with oral health issues, eating disorders, or who've just lived for a long time can all struggle to achieve the ideal.
The great thing about dental implants is that they open up the possibility of a beautiful smile to everyone. You don't have to be a supermodel to have a perfect smile. Dental implants allow youto customize the look of your smile in any way you like, under the supervision of your dentist.
What's more, implants are genuine replacement teeth. They are functionally identical. You don't need to eat a restrictive diet or even think about them, day to day. They will continue to do their job in the background, just like regular teeth.
Calling dental implants an art form isn't a gimmick. That is genuinely what they are. Typically people consider dentists to be medical professionals concerned with procedures and protocol. But implants are an example of where their work branches out into the aesthetic. It is just as much their job to make you look beautiful as it is that of a cosmetic surgeon or the beautician in the salon. And for many dentists, it's a passion.
If you haven't had a consultation about whether you could benefit from implants, it's certainly something you should consider. While using dentures is okay, most people find that their quality of life improves considerably after having implants installed. If you are thinking about it, talk to your dentist about today. Implants are a long term solution to an age-old problem.
