No matter how careful you are with your dental hygiene, there will usually come a point in life when teeth are lost either through damage, decay, or general wear and tear over the years. When this happens, you have two main options to cover up the gaps.
The traditional method is to have a set of dentures (false teeth) fitted, replacing either all or just a few of your teeth. Dental implants are a more modern alternative, involving the surgical addition of permanent replacement teeth, and they offer many advantages over dentures.
Dentures Can Move
Unlike dental implants, dentures aren’t fixed in place. This means they can often move around during talking and eating, leading to embarrassing noises, or even worse, your dentures coming visibly out of alignment. Although a good denture adhesive will reduce these problems, it won’t completely solve them; for many people, adhesive is uncomfortable and inconvenient to use. Dental implants, on the other hand, are fitted securely to your jawbone and offer no such problems.
Dentures Can Worsen Dental Health
If you have partial dentures, their slight movements can trap food under the plate or in the gap where your false teeth meet your real ones, especially when not properly fitted. This can lead to bad breath and increase the chances of decay in your remaining teeth. Poorly fitting dentures can also cause mouth ulcers as they rub against the tender flesh of your gums, cheeks, and palate.
Dental Implants Are Long-Lasting
Dental implants are surgically fitted into your jaw, and can last for up to 20 years without needing replacement. What’s more, just two implants can serve as a foundation to support several new teeth, meaning that it’s easier to keep your smile in shape over the years without needing complete refitting, as you may with dentures.
Dentures Feel False
Unsurprisingly, dentures don’t feel like real teeth, and it may take quite some time to get used to the sensation of them in your mouth — and many people never do. Dental implants, in contrast, will feel indistinguishable from your natural teeth once the initial effects of fitting have cleared up.
Dentures Require Different Cleaning
To properly clean dentures, they need to be removed regularly and cleaned by hand. This is in addition to your normal dental hygiene routine if you have real teeth still remaining. Dental implants will be cleaned as part of your normal brushing and flossing routine, requiring no extra effort.
So as you can see, if you want to hide the gaps caused by tooth loss, there really is no better option available than dental implants. Contact us today to learn how we can improve, not only your smile, but your health and quality of life with dental implants.
