subject: Are You Considering Dental Implants? [print this page] Dental implants have been around for a few decades, although they have only recently become well known by the general public as an option to resolve the problem of missing teeth. George Washington, our country's first President, would have likely preferred implants over his own dentures, which were not made out of wood as popular myth dictates, but rather a composite of materials including animal and human teeth.
Today dental implants have proven to be a strong contender for people who have missing teeth over dentures or bridge work. There are several advantages to dental implants that make them well worth the extra time, effort and money to utilize. The biggest advantage that implants have to offer is the fact that they are permanent when the surgery is successful. And most of the time the surgery is successful because of the screening out process to eliminate patients where the success rate would be low.
The two biggest criteria for success when it comes to dental implant surgery are having enough jawbone density for the implants to be successfully planted into and not being a smoker.
Your jawbone currently is where your natural teeth have taken root and are embedded in the bone much like a plant embeds its roots in the dirt. Your dental implants work much in the same way. The titanium screw is drilled and implanted into your jaw bone and as it heals the bone fuses around the screw embedding it into the jaw. Once this begins to heal, the next part of the three part process is to put the artificial tooth on to the screw tip, and the result is a pretty natural looking tooth in place.
Smokers have a high rate of post-surgery infections. And an infection will likely make the titanium screw fail to adhere and take root and hence the surgery will fail. So if you are a smoker, you will need to consider quitting and be willing to stay off cigarettes permanently since even after your mouth has healed, smoking can cause complications and lead to a higher rate of failure.
If you are a good candidate for dental implants, be prepared for three surgeries to install the implants since this is not a quick process. Each stage requires time for your mouth to heal and recover before the next stage can occur. Overall, most patients take six months for implants to be fully put in place and the end result to be visible.
Finally the cost for implants is not cheap -- it runs far higher than bridge work or dentures and you should expect to pay around $2,800 per implant.
This may seem steep, but keep in mind that dentures and bridgework have to be refitted as your jawbone changes and shrinks and implants are a one-time expense that have proven to last patients as long as twenty years with the proper oral health care, making them a better financial investment than the other available options out there.
by: Abigail Aaronson
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