Good oral and dental routine can ensure permanence of your
teeth, but everything doesn’t remain ideal for everyone. There are several
conditions like tooth decay, cavity, and trauma which can end up making your lose
you tooth. It’s never an ideal scenario but it’s not something which should put
an end to an aspect of your life.
When you lose a tooth, the dentist can offer you two ways to
get your tooth restored; i.e. dental bridge and dental implant. While dental
bridge has become old-fashioned way which doesn’t restore a tooth to the
fullest, dental implant is something which can give you the smile and dental
functionality back. More importantly, a dental implant doesn’t negatively
impact the surrounding teeth.
Dental implant can become a natural part of your smile in a
way dental bridge can’t. Since dental implant doesn’t need support from
surrounding teeth, the healthy surrounding teeth wouldn’t need to be altered.
After losing the tooth, you may be worried about the dental
implant procedure if you have decided to get restoration this way. Well, you
don’t need to worry about it. Here is a brief description regarding dental
implants.
What to expect
The entire process is quite simple given that you are a
right candidate for implant. To check if you can really get implant without
major problem, the dentist will check your gum health and take necessary
radiographs. The purpose is to check the jawbone status. In order to precisely
plan the implant placement, the CT scan will be run. Then a titanium post will
be inserted into the jawbone.
The fun part starts now. This titanium post will be fused
with the jawbone during the process of jawbone’s healing. This fusing process
means that the dental implant is going to be the permanent part of your smile.
After the fusing process is complete, the dentist will
attach an abutment on the top of the dental implant’s post. This abutment
serves as the connector which holds the crown.
How long this implant
can last?
In many cases, dental implant may be even more reliable than
a natural tooth. But there is an expiry condition which we need to take into
consideration. When you take care of your dental implant in way you take care
of a natural tooth in an ideal way, the dental implant may last for a lifetime.
However, the general lifespan of a dental implant is about
10 – 15 years.
With that said, it is worth mentioning that there are
several health conditions which make a dental implant to fail. For instance,
diabetes and oral cancer can cause jawbone to deteriorate, leading to the
failure of dental implant.
Hence, any dental habit which can prove to be dangerous in
short and long term needs to be avoided at all costs if you want your dental
implant to remain the healthy part of your smile.
