It’s very common to be missing a tooth and think that it’s not doing any harm or affecting your health or your smile. Unfortunately, that’s not true. When you’re missing a tooth, your jawbone shrinks, and you lose bone in that area. We also find that adjacent teeth shift or tip into the space or erupt into the space, and over time, that affects other teeth, and it just ripples throughout your life. When you’re missing a tooth or teeth as time goes on, it becomes more and more expensive and time-consuming to fix. As the bone shrinks, we have to have bone to put an implant in, so you need to have more extensive and additional grafting procedures. We also see that the sinuses, if it’s an upper tooth, enlarge and drop down. So, by waiting longer, you’re more likely to need something like a sinus lift to get enough bone height or width to put an implant option in. 

Over time, those costs add up quickly and tremendously, and it also adds time and steps to the process to fix it. So when you lose a tooth, the changes start happening immediately unless you plan for success. Going down the road within the first year of losing a tooth, there’s a significant loss of bone structure. The bone collapses in and in the front moves back, and they happen surprisingly quickly. So, from the time that you’re missing a tooth to the time that you don’t have enough bone to replace it with an implant, depends on many factors, such as your age, your health, what medications you’re on, and what you do in your day-to-day life. For a typical healthy individual, within a couple of years, it would be ideal to get an implant in. If you are somebody who has other health issues or medical factors, it can be shorter. 

Generally, a dental bridge is not nearly as good an option as a dental implant because a bridge works by borrowing strength from teeth around it. Teeth aren’t designed to do that, so you’re asking the teeth on either side to do extra work, which, over time, causes those teeth to fail more quickly. If you do have a bridge, chances are it won’t last a lifetime, so it’s not a one-and-done solution. You’re looking at having a bridge many times, and that oftentimes causes other teeth to fail as well. So, the problem just compounds. If you have a single missing tooth or multiple missing teeth. Please call and set up a consultation before things get worse so that we can find a solution that’s right for you.

There are a lot of myths around dental implants, and we want to give you the truth. Many people believe that implants are more expensive than what they actually are. Particularly when you take into account that it’s a lifelong solution. Something like a bridge or a denture is not going to last a lifetime for you. You’ll have to have it done multiple times. Whereas an implant, if you plan it well, can be done once and it’ll last you for many, many years. I think that implants are a surprisingly attainable solution for most people, and we try to find and work with you to find those solutions that help you feel like it’s approachable and attainable and fit within your budget. There are a lot of people that are concerned about whether or not they have enough bone for implants, and that is something we have to look at in order to have success with implant dentistry, but it’s also more manageable than people think. 

So there’s a surprising number of ways that we can position the implants or angle the implants in some circumstances to take advantage of the bone that you do have. We’re also able to, with three dimensional imaging, find out exactly where you have bone that we can work with and strategically plan to take advantage of that. In some circumstances, we’re able to work with a situation where there’s been a little bone loss by using a guide or something that lets us place the implant very precisely into the area where you do have bone. In other circumstances, we’re able to augment the bone or graft or get bone where there wasn’t any so that we can get an implant that’s stable long-term. Most people are concerned about being without teeth. I would be too, and we have a few different approaches that allow us to keep you smiling with teeth in. 

Sometimes, if it’s a full arch solution, there are teeth that are placed at the time of surgery, so you don’t even see yourself without teeth. Other times, there are different cosmetic solutions that can be used to help you have a tooth throughout the process. Many people express concern about discomfort related to dental implants and oral surgery in general. We are able to help keep dentistry comfortable and the implant process comfortable for you by using a combination of medicine and surgical techniques to help you be comfortable throughout and after the process. 

Everyone comes to us with different dental backgrounds. Some people have had a very challenging one and are very apprehensive about coming into a dental office or ashamed to come into a dental office because of the state of their mouth or their oral health, and that’s unfortunate because we all come with a past. Everyone has a different story, and so at our office, we are very concerned about the comfort of our patients. From the time you walk in the door, we have a team that’s approachable and has gone through significant dental procedures themselves. So, if you’re missing a single tooth or you need a full of arch of teeth, come and let us put your mind at ease and answer any questions you might have about dental implants with a free consultation.