This article explains how dental implants help to maintain good jawbone health and in doing so, promote the longevity of one’s natural youthful facial contours.
When it comes to replacing teeth that have been lost to decay, gum disease or a bad accident, most people consider the immediate benefits… the ability to eat properly again and of course being able to smile without feeling self-conscious! But according to dental implants specialists in New York, these innovative devices offer benefits that no other teeth replacement technologies – not conventional bridges or removable dentures – can touch. And it all comes down to the very simple fact that dental implants replace the roots of the missing tooth or teeth and not just the crown.
Just How Important Are Your Tooth Roots?
The tooth roots do more than just provide an anchor for the crown – the component of your pearly white that is visible above the gum line. They play a vital role in keeping the jawbone healthy and they do this by transmitting the forces associated with biting, grinding and chewing into the surrounding hard tissue.
“The eating forces work to keep the bone ‘exercised’, which helps to maintain a strong and healthy jaw,” say new teeth specialists in New York. “In fact, the benefits of this functional stimulation are very much like those experienced with regular exercise and your muscular definition! When muscles are worked, exercised and stretched, they become strong and their bulk is maintained (if not increased). If you don’t exercise at all, they wither away as a result of atrophy. The same happens to bone.”
“Patients who have lost teeth and left them untreated often undergo a remodeling process of the jawbone whereby the volume of this bone decreases,” explain dental implants specialists in New York. “The bone that previously encased the roots of the teeth becomes resorbed, resulting in a loss of volume that can make future treatment using dental implants difficult.”
Traditional Technologies Versus Dental Implants
It is precisely for the above-mentioned reason that new teeth specialists in New York recommend dental implants over and above traditional teeth replacement technologies that only really replace the crowns of the tooth. These technologies, such as conventional bridges and removable dentures, allow the underlying jawbone to deteriorate and atrophy and the consequences this has on a patient’s natural facial contours can be quite devastating.
“Bone loss in the jaw has a tremendous aging effect upon a person’s face,” explain dental implants specialists in New York. “Without the bulk of the jawbone to uphold and support the facial tissues, they begin to sag and the mouth starts to look sunken-in. By replacing teeth with dental implants as soon as tooth loss occurs, this remodeling process can be avoided completely and a healthy bone volume maintained. Dental implants can essentially help prevent premature aging of that portion of your face as a consequence of tooth and bone loss!”
A Final Note on Dental Implants
It’s quite fascinating to learn of the deeper benefits of a technology we all thought we were quite familiar with. Instead of just replacing the visible part of a missing tooth, they replace the root as well and in doing so they keep your jawbone stimulated and healthy. This has tremendous benefits for your entire smile; making implants the very best and most advantageous teeth replacement technology on the market.