Dental Implants and Bone Health

Dental implants are one of the options you get to explore if you are looking to replace missing teeth. These restorations are placed in the jaw and become one with your jawbone through a process called osseointegration.

While there is a common misconception that implants replace teeth, they actually replace teeth roots. These roots attach teeth to the jawbone and usually fall out with teeth. Teeth roots play an important function transferring bite forces into the jaw. Implants replace teeth roots and perform the same role, helping to prevent the bone tissue loss that occurs when teeth fall out. Bone tissue loss in the jaw can have drastic effects on a person’s appearance, like wrinkles forming around their mouth or a sunken look.

Important things to know about dental implants and bone health

Dental implants are the only teeth replacement option that can be used to prevent bone tissue breakdown after teeth are lost. Dentures and bridges only replace the visible part of teeth. They are not attached to the jawbone, so bite forces are not transferred when a person who has them bites down on something. Fortunately, implants can be combined with either dentures or bridges to provide patients with a more comprehensive solution.

The process

Lifestyle choices like alcohol consumption and tobacco use can also delay a patient's recovery following implant placement. Patients might have to give up such habits leading up to and after their treatment to reduce their risk of complications.

Patients also need to have enough thickness in their jawbones to keep implants in place without reaching the nerve at the bottom of the jaw. Bone grafts can be used to thicken a patient's jawbone, but the procedure takes up to three months to recover from. Patients typically have to be healed from bone grafts before implants can be placed.

Local anesthetics are normally used when implants are placed since incisions are made into gum tissues to reach the jaw. Holes are drilled where the implants will be placed, and they are pushed in until the bone tissues around them hold them in place.

Patients are given up to six months to heal before coming back for the second part of the treatment. An abutment is attached to the implant to serve as a base, and the implant crown goes right on it to replace the missing tooth. The entire process of replacing teeth with implants can take up to six months, but patients sometimes get temporary crowns immediately after the implants are inserted.

Recovery after implant placement

Patients should stick to soft and liquid foods while their implant fuses with their jawbone. Some soreness and discomfort might be experienced after the anesthetic wears off, but it should go away within a week. Over-the-counter painkillers can often be used to manage any discomfort.