Dental Implants
Dental implants are a modern tooth replacement, and the closest dentistry can come to replicating a natural tooth. Dentists recommend implants because they help promote excellent oral health; patients prefer them because they look, feel, and function just like natural teeth.
Dr. Gury Batlle wants to provide his patients with the most modern, proven dental solutions. You also deserve choices, and by offering dental implants, bridges, and dentures at our Moorpark dental office, he can help you choose the one that meets your unique needs.
How Do Dental Implants Work?
A dental implant is a replacement tooth root. Commonly made of titanium, a dental implant is placed surgically in your jaw and left to heal for several months.
During the healing period of 3-8 months, the biocompatible implant fuses with the jawbone and tissue around it. This process is called osseointegration, and the result is an artificial tooth root that's stable enough to support a restoration like a crown, bridge, or denture.
With dental implants, we can replace a single missing tooth, multiple missing teeth, or all missing teeth using an implant-supported denture.
What Are the Benefits of Dental Implants?
When you look at your smile before and after dental implants, the obvious benefit is that the gap is closed, and it looks complete and healthy. But implants offer other benefits aside from a dramatic cosmetic improvement and renewed confidence in your appearance.
Restores Chewing Function
If you have missing teeth and find yourself shifting food around in your mouth to try to eat comfortably, you'll appreciate that implants restore your ability to eat whatever foods you want comfortably.
If you opt for implant-supported dentures, you can eat, speak, and laugh confidently without worrying about dentures that shift and move out of place.
Helps Maintain Jawbone Health
Tooth roots work to keep the jawbone strong and healthy. When you lose a tooth, there's no longer a root to stimulate healthy bone regeneration, and the bone starts to shrink. As the bone continues to deteriorate, support for surrounding teeth is lost, and the result is often further tooth loss.
A dental implant acts like a replacement tooth root and helps the jawbone stay healthy and intact.
Helps Prevent TMJ Problems
When you lose a tooth and don't replace it, neighboring teeth naturally drift into the gap. This movement can cause tooth misalignment that negatively impacts your dental bite and leads to problems with your TMJ (jaw joints). Replacing the tooth with dental implants prevents drifting and helps protect your jaw joints.
Contributes to a More Youthful Appearance
Your teeth also help support your lips and cheeks, but when you lose one or more teeth, you also lose this support. At the same time, your jawbone starts to shrink, further contributing to a sunken-in or aged appearance.
You can maintain a fuller, more youthful appearance with a strong and healthy jawbone and a dental implant crown or dentures in place.
Acts as a Long-Term Tooth Replacement
It's true that tooth replacements like bridges and dentures are less expensive upfront than implant-supported options. But since these restorations need to be replaced more frequently, the costs can add up.
A dental implant becomes a permanent part of your dental anatomy, and with proper care, can last for decades.
Schedule a Dental Implants Appointment in Moorpark, CA
You may be a good candidate if you have missing teeth and are healthy enough for the implant placement procedure. The one requirement is that there is sufficient strong, healthy bone in the area we need to place the implant. Even if there's not, a procedure called bone grafting can help build up the bone and allow you to receive a dental implant in the future.
The best way to know if dental implants are right for you is to call our Moorpark, CA dental office to schedule an evaluation with Dr. Batlle.
We look forward to helping you smile again with confidence!
