The goal of modern dentistry is to restore the patient to normal contour, function, comfort, esthetics, speech, and health whether restoring teeth with caries or replacing an entirely missing tooth. This makes implant dentistry unique as it enables one to achieve these goals. But what is a dental implant and how does this work? Is it an affordable option or will it burn a hole in your pocket? Let’s discuss the implants in detail in this article.

WHAT IS AN IMPLANT?

An implant is an artificial root, that replaces the missing tooth and holds the artificial crown in place, to make it function like a natural tooth. Implants are made of titanium material that has the unique ability to adhere and integrate with bone. As time progress, the implant becomes harder as the bone grows around it, making it function like a natural tooth.

What can be closer than this, to replace a missing natural tooth?

SINGLE TOOTH LOSS

 Adult patients often have one or more crowns as a consequence of previous large restorations required to repair the integrity of crowns. The mean life span of a well-made crown is 10.3 years. The patient needs to get the crown replaced after that time and if the underlying natural tooth structure is already damaged by then due to marginal leakage, it should be extracted. Patients’ socioeconomic conditions also lead them to opt for extraction rather than spending hundreds of dollars over a crown. This led to many adults losing their teeth at the prime of their life. Though placing a fixed dental bridge is an existing option, it requires the preparation of healthy teeth next to the missing tooth. All these led to the introduction of IMPLANTS into dentistry.

ADVANTAGES OF IMPLANTS

The advantages of an implant are:

• Esthetics:
• An implant allows replacement of only the missing teeth
• Adjacent natural and healthy teeth can be spared
• The patient’s natural facial contour, esthetics can be maintained
• Functionality:
• Bone growth around implants makes it stronger and prevent the bone loss that is usually observed in the regions of tooth loss
• Patients can maintain good oral hygiene. Just like natural teeth, they can brush their teeth twice, floss, and rinse, unlike dental bridges which do not allow flossing.
• Speech patterns will not be disturbed, unlike removable prostheses.
• Patients can chew normally and it feels like a natural tooth due to its integration with bone.
• Longevity:
• When properly maintained, it lasts for a lifetime
• This provides an edge over dental bridges which have a fixed lifetime and need to be replaced.

HOW MUCH CAN ONE SPEND ON A DENTAL IMPLANT?

The implant restores the lost tooth and is claimed to be the closest replacement to the missing tooth. Its functionality, esthetics, and longevity made implants more popular in recent times. More than 5 million dental implants are placed every year in the USA and the demand for dental implants has increased 10-fold between 2000 to 2010. Ease of oral hygiene maintenance is also one of the factors for patients to choose implants over dental bridges. Nonetheless, Implant dentistry is undoubtedly a costly affair, yet we are strongly committed to the idea that financial constraints should not act as a barrier and prevent the patients from seeking dental treatment that they deserve.

Many community and patient driven dental offices (like the one that I am running) believe that implant treatment should be affordable and are deeply devoted to offering implant services at affordable prices to make the treatment available for people across all walks of life.

Successful planning is essential to have all implant appointments from consultation to the final crown placement, be smoother, hassle-free, and pain-free.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical and dental advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical and dental advice/conditions.