Dental Implants for Seniors
The benefit of growing older requires hard work; you must maintain a healthy diet, regular activity, and maintain regular check-ups. Despite your efforts, you may experience tooth loss but you do not need to look to only dentures for teeth replacement. You can talk to the dentist about dental implant surgery as an option to replace your missing or damaged teeth. It is an ideal alternative to dentures because, the placement of the tooth in permanent and it is supported by the jaw bone. The result is a natural looking, strong tooth to get you back to chewing and talking the way you did before you lost the tooth. After dental implant surgery, most patients experience an improved day to day life and regret for not taking action to replace their tooth sooner.
What Are Dental Implants?
Dental implants are typically titanium posts placed below the gum that fuse with the jaw bone and hold a replacement tooth in place with an abutment between the crown and the implanted post. Depending on the health of your mouth and the location of the missing tooth, the dentist may need to perform a root canal, graft bone, or graft gum tissue to give you the best results for long term dental health.
The dentist can customize the crown to replicate the missing tooth with matching size, shape and color. You will have a natural looking smile and feel like yourself once the dental implant process is complete. Experienced dentists with special training provide the most natural looking and best fitting dental implants.
As compared to missing teeth and dentures, dental implants offer the following benefits:
- Improved Appearance – When seniors do not need to worry about smiling with missing teeth or covering awkward fitting dentures, they can jump into photos or social events without added concern about their appearance.
- Improved Confidence – Less concern about their appearance, gives seniors more self-confidence. When their day-to-day life is more about enjoying the moments and experiences with their friends and family, seniors can savor a better quality of life.
- Improved Chewing, Biting and Talking – Dental implants are secured in place permanently without the suction and adhesive that dentures rely on when talking and chewing. Seniors will have more freedom to eat their favorite foods without the discomfort from moving dentures. The added benefits from the nutritional content of fresh fruits and vegetables will improve their health too.
- More Savings – Dental implants are a one-time investment and provide permanent relief from missing teeth. Dentures require maintenance and need to be refit over time because the jaw bone changes without having the stimulation from teeth. Additionally, dentures require a dedicated cleaning compound and a special adhesive to use every day. Dental implants can be treated just like your natural teeth without any special tools or solutions.
- Easier Care – As mentioned above, dentures must be removed in order to be cleaned but they are still easily stained despite regular cleaning. Dental implants are secured in place and are cared for the same way your natural teeth are. Because dentures are not fixed in place permanently, they can slide around and cause gum irritation from regular wearing.