If you’ve lost a tooth due to trauma, accident, or health issues, you have a variety of tooth-replacement options. Most patients know about conventional options such as dentures and dental bridges. Increasingly, patients are exploring the option of dental implants to replace a single tooth or multiple missing teeth. What some patients don’t know, however, is that these treatment options can actually be used together to increase the effectiveness of traditional dentures or bridges.
Dental implants are an innovative tooth-replacement treatment that actually mimics the structure of natural teeth. Using small titanium rods, our Glendale dental implant dentists replace the tooth root—the titanium post is actually surgically inserted into the jawbone, so it occupies the space where the tooth root used to be. After the initial implantation, the titanium post heals for a period of time. During this healing period the titanium attaches to the jawbone for increased stability. Then the titanium post is capped with a natural-looking restoration. The result is an implant that looks and feels like a natural tooth—easy to speak with, eat with, and care for.
Dental implants can be used to replace one missing tooth or multiple teeth. They can also be used to anchor traditional dentures or bridges. With the simple addition of a stabilizing dental implant or two shaky dentures can be secured with increased functionality and comfort. For many patients, their existing dentures or dental bridges can actually be altered so that they work in accordance with dental implants.
Some patients prefer dentures or bridges to dental implants—or they have already invested in dentures, so they want to retain them. If a full set of dental implants wont work for your dental goals or budget, one or two stabilizing dental implants could make all the difference—increasing the functionality of your existing tooth replacement appliance. Give our Glendale dental implant dentists a call if you have any questions—(818) 334-2974.