Millions of Americans are missing one or more teeth due to decay or injury. Often times, the tooth loss is not serious enough to worry about. However, when the tooth loss becomes serious enough to adversely affect quality of life, it’s a good idea to seriously consider getting dental implants.
Large Number of Missing Teeth
One or more missing teeth will probably not greatly affect the way you chew, smile or talk. When two or more teeth are missing, problems slowly become noticeable. The ability to effectively and comfortably chew your food begins to be compromised. Biting into and chewing crisp fruit and vegetables as well as meats like beef becomes a chore. Often times, it leads to avoidance of these kinds of foods completely. This can seriously affect your health and quality of life.
Ineffectiveness of Dentures
Using dentures can be an effective and low-cost way of coping with severe or complete tooth loss, and some people simply have no other choice. In our experience, we have found that many denture wearers would have done better spending their money on dental implants instead. This is true especially in cases when our patients still have the majority of their teeth. Even in cases when our patients might not be able to replace all their missing teeth at once, having one implant in place is a move in the right direction. It’s best to replace a tooth one at a time, anyway.
Quality of Speech
When the quality of your speech begins to deteriorate due to excessive tooth loss, it’s definitely time to consider dental implants. Having dental implants is just like having your old teeth back. If your speech has suffered as a result of missing teeth, your speech will return to normal as well after getting dental implants.
Lack of Self Esteem Due to Appearance
Even though the quality of your appearance can seem like a trivial issue, it can play a huge role in your level, or lack of, self-esteem. Tooth loss causes the jawline in the areas of missing teeth to cave in. This is because tooth loss can slowly cause the bone in that area to deteriorate due to lack of exercise. This causes facial sagging and negative effects on your appearance. When we fit our patients with dental implants, we do this knowing that the titanium implant will eventually fuse with the bone, restoring their appearance.
Anyone healthy enough to have a tooth extracted is probably a good candidate for dental implant surgery. Other factors such as the health of the gums and bone must be evaluated on an individual basis.
Andover Smiles can help you get the smile you want and deserve with dental implants, mini dental implants and smile makeovers – among other treatments. Our team, led by Dr. Steven Rinaldi, will work with you to determine the most effective treatment plan for your needs. Contact Andover Smiles today to schedule your consultation.
