Simpsonville Family DentistryIn my opinion, the greatest thing to happen to dentistry in the past 30 years is the dental implant.

The dental implant is a highly predictable, highly versatile way to replace anything from one missing tooth to a whole mouth of missing teeth.  Studies show that 178 million Americans are missing at least 1 tooth.  Forty million Americans have no teeth, with 30% of Americans over 65 having no teethThe beauty is the dental implant can help all 178 million of these Americans.

So what is the dental implant?

A dental implant is a piece of titanium that is shaped like a tooth root and is placed into bone.  It is then allowed to heal for a period of time until it is stable. The implant is then used as a base for a crown, bridge, denture, or partial.  The versatility of the dental implant is why patients love it so.  Let’s say you got a root canal and crown on a tooth when you were 40 then lost all the rest of your teeth when you were 70.  That tooth would have to be extracted and all the money you spent on it would be lost.  This is not true for an implant.  We could just take the crown off and place a denture attachment onto the implant, and now this implant is being used to stabilize your denture.

After deciding that an implant is the best option to replace your missing tooth, the next step is the placement of the implant.  Here is a video that will help you to understand how an implant is placed.

After the implant heals, you can then use it to replace one tooth or many.  You can see the implant crown in the video above.  Here are some other options on uses of dental implants.

If missing multiple teeth, you can use 2-4 implants to replace 3-6 teeth.  Here is a video of 2 implants being used to replace 4 front teeth.

The people, in my opinion, who benefit most from dental implant are those who have no teeth at all.  Dentures always change a patient’s quality of life for the worst. The quality of life with dentures is best seen in the number of commercials and millions of dollars made by denture adhesives.

Patients always see a change in their diet after getting dentures. Raw fruits and vegetables, many meats, and nuts are usually not able to be eaten with traditional dentures. 

I think the most exciting part of my job is when I’m able to take a patient who has had dentures for decades, and with the help of dental implants, convert them back into being able to eat their favorite foods.  Denture implants allow dentures to both be snapped in and out or permanently fixed in the patient’s mouth so they don’t have to worry about taking them in and out.  We can often take out a patient’s remaining teeth, place the implants, and place an interim screwed in denture all on the same day so the patient never goes without teeth!

Here is a video on a denture that snaps in:

Here is a video of a fixed denture that isn’t removable:

I hope you enjoyed learning about all the exciting ways that implants are changing patient’s lives for the better.  If you want more information about dental implants or our office, please reach out to us at simpsonvillefamilydentistry@yahoo.com or call us at 864-963-3481.