A guide to dental implants as a solution to tooth loss

A guide to dental implants as a solution to tooth loss

26-07-2016

Choosing dental implants to replace your missing teeth can seriously enhance your quality of life. At Ralston Dental and Cosmetic Clinic in Leicester, our implant dentist, Dr Duncan Ralston, can use implants to replace one, some, or all of your natural teeth, and can treat both simple and complex cases.

There are numerous benefits to dental implants when compared with traditional dental bridges or dentures. A standard bridge needs support from your adjacent teeth, which more often than not results in the loss of healthy tooth structure, and also needs these teeth to be strong, healthy, and free from large fillings in the first place.

Neither standard bridges nor dentures replace the roots of lost teeth, and when tooth roots are missing for any period of time, the jaw bone is likely to start shrinking. This is the primary reason that traditional dentures become loose and ill-fitting, and can also cause a prematurely aged appearance to your face.

At our Leicester dental centre we believe dental implants are, more often than not, the optimum solution to tooth loss.

It’s wrong to think of dental implants as replacement teeth as such; more accurately, they are replacement tooth roots. They are placed in your jaw bone under local anaesthetic or sedation at our Leicester clinic, preventing the problem of bone loss whilst simultaneously holding your new teeth – be they crowns, bridges, or dentures – securely in place in your mouth.

Dental implants help to eliminate common denture woes. You will once again be able to eat whatever you like, including the occasional treat. You can also enjoy clear speech and a renewed vigour for life with no danger of your dentures slipping out unexpectedly.

If you need several or all the teeth replaced in one jaw, your Leicester dentist may opt to use an implant-retained bridge. Unlike traditional bridgework, implant-retained bridges don’t need any support from remaining teeth, meaning they stay healthy and strong.

An implant-retained bridge can also support more teeth than a standard bridge. At our Leicester clinic a few choicely placed dental implants can support a full jaw of teeth in bridge form.