4 Benefits of Dental Implants

You’ve lost a tooth, or several teeth, to tooth decay, gum disease, or trauma, and you want to know what all the buzz is about when it comes to dental implants. Trust us, that buzz is well-deserved as these replacement teeth excel in several key areas, which explains why nearly five million of these implants are placed each year in the United States.

In this month’s blog post, the team here at Baton Rouge Perio — led by Dr. Jenny Herman, Dr. Kenneth Markle, and Dr. Barry Biner — is going to review four of the key benefits of dental implants and why they rise above other tooth replacement options.

1. Dental implants help prevent bone loss

Losing a tooth may not seem bad in the grand scheme of things, but this slight loss can quickly snowball into larger problems. 

Each of your teeth has roots that signal to your body that the area is active, so your body continues sending resources in to remodel your jawbone. When you lose a tooth and its roots, your body concludes that the area is no longer in use and ceases to regrow bone, which leads to bone loss in your jaw. 

This bone loss then threatens the stability of neighboring teeth, and, all too soon, the one missing tooth becomes a much larger problem.

With a dental implant, we place a post in your jawbone that acts as a new root. Your body registers the presence of this “root” and fuses it into place with new bone growth. When we cap the post with a dental crown, the implant essentially mimics your natural tooth from top to bottom, and your body readily accepts the substitute.

2. Dental implants have a high success rate

Since we’re surgically implanting a post into your jaw, a dental implant is closest to a natural tooth. As a result, this replacement tooth can go the distance and has an incredibly high success rate — more than 95%.

3. Dental implants are safe 

The metals we use for the implants, such as titanium, are safe and follow international consensus standards. For us to use an implant in the US, it has to go through an FDA evaluation, including biocompatibility testing.

4. Dental implants are easy to care for

Since dental implants are permanent teeth for all intents and purposes, you take care of your replacement tooth as you do your other teeth. With other replacement options, such as dentures, there are special cleaning instructions, but with dental implants, you stick to your usual regimen, which should include:

• Brushing twice a day
• Flossing once a day
• Rinsing after meals
• Getting your twice-annual professional tooth cleaning

While the crown that caps your dental implant may not be susceptible to tooth decay, you must clean the surrounding area regularly to keep gum disease at bay.

If you want a tooth replacement option that supports your dental health, please get in touch with our office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to learn more about dental implants.