Dental implants don’t just replace a single missing tooth. If you have lost all of your teeth or most of them, then we can support a full set of dentures with implant dentistry. In today’s blog, your Leawood, KS, dentist talks about how we secure a set of implant-retained dentures that can last for decades to come!
The Dangers of Total Tooth Loss
What happens when we lose most or all of our teeth? You could have trouble eating your favorite food and be forced to rely on soft foods, which also limits your nutritional intake. For many, lack of teeth causes issues speaking clearly and leads to embarrassment in social situations, which can impact overall quality of life. Missing teeth can also stress your jaw joints so you are more vulnerable to issues like TMJ disorder and bruxism (teeth grinding). The most serious complication is the loss of mass and density in your jaw. This happens as your body suspends the flow of key nutrients to the jaw around missing roots. As the jaw breaks down, this can cause an older appearance! But we can help prevent these issues with a set of implant-retained dentures.
Preparing Your Smile for Prosthetics
To begin, our team will examine your smile to understand the cause of your tooth loss. We may need to treat any underlying oral health issues before we move forward. Our team also wants to assess the strength of your jawbone to ensure your smile can support dental implants. In some cases, procedures like jawbone grafting and a sinus lift may be necessary. We will also select the areas with the best angle, position, and depth to insert the posts. We guide these implants into the jaw, where they will act as new roots. This stimulates the bone structure to ensure you don’t develop an aged appearance, and that your new roots can stay in place for decades to come, possibly even a lifetime!
Securing Implant-Retained Prosthetics
When the posts are in place, we will move forward with attaching the denture. For some, this can happen in the same visit, while others may need to wait as the placement areas heal properly. Our team will add abutments to the implant posts so we can connect your custom-made denture, which is designed to not only look natural, but provide a comfortable fit and a balanced bite. We use materials like ceramic, so your teeth look natural and handle daily bite forces with ease.
Do You Need Implant Dentures?
Don’t live without a full smile, talk to our team about a set of fixed prosthetics. Call Dreem Dentistry in Leawood, KS by calling (913)681-5500 to learn more about how our team supports a full smile and offers a lifelike appearance as well.
