Missing teeth can affect your health in more than one way. Not only will it cause you to have low self-confidence over your appearance, but you could develop physical problems as well. For instance, if you cannot chew your food properly because you have missing teeth, it could negatively affect your digestive health and immune health.

When you elect to replace your missing teeth with strong and natural-looking dental implants, they will remedy all of these problems. Dental implants can do the following:

• Prevent bone loss
• Restore chewing ability
• Strengthen the jaw joints
• Avoid shifting teeth
• Natural biting
• Preserve the remaining natural teeth
• Preserve digestive health

Dental bridges are suitable for when you have two or more consecutive missing teeth. A dental bridge replaces your missing teeth by attaching artificial teeth to the adjacent natural teeth.

Dental implants are better for replacing individual missing teeth that are not surrounded by other missing teeth. For example, if you have one tooth missing on the side of your mouth, then a dental implant would be more appropriate for it. But if you have three consecutive missing teeth on the side of your mouth, then a bridge would be better to remedy it. Most patients prefer dental implants because they look the most natural and don’t affect any other teeth.

On the downside, a dental bridge requires the adjacent natural teeth to be reshaped to support the bridge. This will eventually weaken the bone structure in the mouth that supports the strength of your chewing abilities. The gum and bone surrounding the bridge will soon pull away and gradually create a gap between your bridge and teeth. Once that happens, bacteria and debris could get stuck in the gap and increase your risk of getting an oral infection.

There are no age restrictions for dental implant surgery. If you have missing adult teeth, then you will likely qualify to receive dental implants. The only exception is for teenagers because their facial bones and adult teeth are still growing and forming. That is why we don’t recommend teenagers get dental implants until their bones stop growing.

Dental implant surgery should get done soon after a tooth extraction procedure, but it is not a requirement. You can still receive dental implants if your tooth was extracted several years ago. All that matters is that you have enough healthy bone surrounding the dental implant to give it support.

Dental implants will never need replacement if you take care of them. Make sure you brush and floss your teeth and receive regular checkups at our dental office in Santa Monica. The checkups are vital because we’ll ensure the forces in your mouth are balanced and that your implants remain in the proper position.