What Are Dental Implants? (Missouri City, TX)
Hi, I’m Dr. Pereira at Dentarts Implants and Prosthodontics in Sienna, Missouri City. And today I’m going to talk about dental implants. A lot of my patients ask me about what is a dental implant? And I always tell them; it’s the most advanced solution to replace missing teeth. They look natural. They look like regular teeth.
Implant vs. Bridge: hygiene and conservation
They also function like teeth. But what is most important, what I like about dental implants is that they are conservative when the teeth are missing. There is a space right there if we were to replace those teeth. With the traditional way, that means that we will have to reduce or cut the two teeth that are next to the missing space to put a bridge.
Okay? One disadvantage about this option is that you cannot floss like regularly. You must floss underneath the fake tooth to be able to clean that. So, think about an extra step that you need to do to be able to do the hygiene properly underneath the bridge. Now with dental implants, think about a fixture.
How dental implants work (osseointegration)
It’s a screw that is placed in the jawbone. Okay. And. Once we have the screw in place we’re going to let the bone grow around it. That means that it’s going to integrate, it’s going to be integrated with your bone, okay? And after that integration is complete, we can put the crown, okay, which is. The missing tooth right on top of that implant.
Benefits: bone preservation and quality of life
So, as you see, you can floss regularly, and it works just like a natural tooth. One of the things that I like the most about dental implants is that they help preserve the bone. Once the tooth is lost, it stops receiving that signaling. To keep the bone stable. So, what happens is that the bone starts to shrink.
When we put the implant. There is a process called osteointegration. That means the jawbone grows around the implant. Once that process of osteointegration is complete and we put the crown on top of the implant, this is going to transmit some signals to the bone. The pressure of chewing, the pressure of biting and that signals are going to keep the bone density and that way preserving the bone around the implant and around the teeth.
In summary, dental implants let you speak and smile and function with confidence in a natural way, and they also improve the quality of life. That’s why dental implants are so great. Thank you.