Are You A Good Candidate For Dental Implants? 3 Ways To Tell

Are you considering getting dental implants? They are popular among people from all walks of life these days, and are a booming area of cosmetic dentistry. The idea of getting a totally new smile in a day, as many dental implant clinics advertise, is really appealing. You're blissfully asleep for the whole procedure, and while you're in dreamland, your entire smile is redesigned. Your old teeth are removed, new ones that look pearly white and perfectly real are screwed into your jawbone, and the new teeth are placed in straight, aligned, and evenly sized. You don't have to go through the hassle of braces or get crowns or veneers that may fall off later. It seems like a perfect solution to smile issues.

Dental implants may be perfect for you. However, you need to be sure before you sign up to undergo the procedure. While they work well for most people, not everyone is a good candidate to get them. Are you a good candidate for dental implants? Here are three ways to tell.

1. You Have Adequate Bone in Your Jaw

According to the American Academy of Periodontology, the best candidates for dental implants have an adequate amount of bone in their jaws. A decent amount of jaw bone is necessary to a successful experience with dental implants. This is because the implants are screwed directly into the jaw. If there isn't enough bone there, the screw might not go in deeply enough, or at all. This will result in a loose implant that will likely fall out pretty quickly, and won't be able to be replaced with another implant.

Jaw bone loss can result from untreated tooth decay, osteoporosis, tooth abscesses, and other conditions that lead to soft or thin bones. If you're not sure how much bone you have in your jaw, go see your dentist for x-rays and get a consultation on your suitability for dental implants based on your quantity of jaw bone.

2. You Do Not Smoke

Smoking will not only stain your new teeth, just like it stained your old ones (something you will surely want to avoid if you're spending the money to get a mouth full of dental implants), it can also interfere with healing in the mouth.

This does have the potential to give you a longer recovery period after getting dental implants than other people who do not smoke. It make even cause your mouth to take so long to heal that the implants fail and you're forced to get dentures to replace your missing teeth.

3. You Have Healthy Gum Tissue

If you have gingivitis or severe gum disease, you are probably not a good candidate for dental implants. Your infected gums could take a long time to heal after the implant surgery, and could become even more infected because of the procedure. There is always a chance for infection in any surgical procedure, but gum disease would put you more at risk.

Diseased gums also do not provide adequate stability for dental implants. They recede and get pockets, and this could cause the implants to loosen, and even fall out of your mouth. Frequent replacements of the implants might be necessary. Only people with healthy gums should consider getting dental implants.

Conclusion

Most people are able to tolerate dental implant surgery very well, and the results are astounding when it works like it's meant to. It's only natural to want perfect, white, straight teeth, and dental implants can give you this. Just be sure you get a thorough consultation with your dentist or someone like Darryl A. Field, DDS, PA Periodontics & Implant Dentistry before agreeing to the procedure. You want to be sure those new teeth will last a lifetime.


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