We recently saw an article in the Daily Mail online showing a retired sales manager by the name of Holly Merrick, 68 having dental implants to improve her confidence. She spent £30,000 on the treatment, had five hours of surgery and had to eat mashed vegetables for weeks, so why do people put themselves through this to replace missing teeth?
The reasons could be many, it seems that in Holly’s case she wanted to feel more confident after her divorce and she even comments:
“Last September I even went for a cruise around the South Pacific on my own, which I’d never have had the confidence to do before.”
So what would your reason be? To feel more confident? To feel more attractive? Perhaps to be able to eat, smile and chew again? Or something else…
The top reasons to replace missing teeth
These are, of course, the top reasons that many patients give us, they are all emotional reasons and are extremely powerful and did you know there are also some clinical reasons why you might want to replace missing teeth.
Preventing further bone loss.
One of the primary objectives of any dentist is to retain as many natural features as possible, this includes gum, bone and teeth. Not many people want to lose please! When you have a tooth extracted in naturally leads socket, the way the body repairs this is that the surrounding bone collapses into the socket. This has the effect of reducing the overall amount of bone in that area.
This has an aesthetic effect meaning that any tooth we use to replace the missing tooth tends to look longer, Plus it has a clinical dental effect in that if we ever want to replace the missing tooth with a dental implant in future, we have less bone into which we can fix the dental implant. Of course, we could augment the bone but this can be uncomfortable and add increased expense to the treatment.
Preventing the opposing teeth from over erupting.
Did you know that all of your teeth in your mouth sit in what is known as the neutral zone. This neutral zone balances out the forces of your tongue pushing out, your cheeks pushing in and the opposing teeth pushing up or down. If something within this balanced neutral zone changes your teeth will have a tendency to move, in fact some patients thrust with their tongue and are able to push the teeth out creating a distinctive look that many want corrected with orthodontics.
What happens if you have missing teeth is that the opposing teeth can begin to drift and over erupt into the space. This can create byte problems and potentially cause headaches or jaw joint pain.
Preventing the adjacent teeth from tipping.
With the tooth missing not only can the opposing teeth over erupt and drift down but the adjacent teeth can begin tipping into this space also.
Again, this has the effect of moving your teeth around which can result in what is known as a mal occlusion, this is when the teeth don’t meet together properly and the muscles of your jaw, head, face and neck need to compromise in order to move your jaw joint in a different way. This can lead to biting problems and also muscle pain in these areas.
Are dental implants the answer?
Dental implants are not the only solution to replacing missing teeth, dentures and bridges can also be highly effective. The advantage that a dental implant has is that it sits directly into the bone and supports it. This means that the collapsing effect of the surrounding bone once a tooth is removed can be minimised, so long as the implant is placed soon after the tooth has been removed.
In many cases it is possible to use what is known as an immediate dental implant. This is where the dental implant is placed immediately into the socket once the tooth has been removed. This makes the surgical procedure slightly more effective as everything happens in one go.
Dental implants, whilst being one of the more expensive treatments in dentistry, can lead to a life of confidence eating, cheering and smiling which is why people, such as the lady mentioned here, Are prepared to go for five hours in surgery and eat mashed vegetables for a few weeks.
Is it your turn now to confidently replace missing teeth? If you feel it is please give Senova Dental Studios in Watford a call, we are a local-based dental practice helping the people of Garston, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, Gerrards Cross and surrounding Hertfordshire areas replace their missing teeth.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2746133/30-000-5-hours-surgery-weeks-mashed-vegetables-implants-really-worth-it.html
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