If you have missing teeth, such as one lost tooth or even the complete loss of every natural tooth, then we can help with dental implants. These not only look natural, but they can last far longer than traditional bridges or removable dentures. In today’s blog, your Leawood, KS, dentist talks about implant dentistry.
The Causes of Tooth Loss
How does a tooth become lost in the first place? You could lose a natural tooth to poor oral health, such as a cavity or even a severe infection. Missing teeth could also develop due to injury to the face or jaw. The most common factor is actually gum disease. The periodontitis stage of the disease actually severs the attachment tissues between the teeth and gums, which leads to missing teeth. As part of your treatment, we will take time to carefully examine your smile to understand the causes of your tooth loss, so we can not only plan replacement with implant dentistry, but also treat any underlying issues like gum disease so you avoid implant failure and further tooth loss, ensuring your new results can truly last for years to come!
Placing Dental Implants
How do we place dental implants? When we examine your jaw with digital x-rays and other imaging tools, we will assess the strength of your jawbone to ensure your smile can support dental implant posts, which we insert into the jaw regularly, where they act like tooth roots. If your jaw has been weakened due to loss of mass and density, which follows tooth loss, we could fortify these areas with procedures like grafting.
Our team will choose the best angle, position, and depth to insert the post, so they can act like new roots and support teeth while also stimulating the growth of jawbone structure to keep your smile intact. We want your new teeth to stay in place for decades to come, possibly a lifetime!
Ensuring You Stay Comfortable
Dental implant placement involves oral surgery, which can make some patients self-conscious, especially if they have anxiety about seeing the dentist, or special needs that complicates the ability to undergo care. We can take steps to help you stay comfortable. For example, our team can offer a local anesthesia to numb the placement area directly. We also help our patients enter a deep state of calm and relaxation with the use of sedation, choosing from options like nitrous oxide, oral conscious sedation, and even IV sedation to ensure your experience is a positive one, and you don’t feel discomfort or nervousness during the procedure.
Individual Lost Teeth
For an individual missing tooth, we will insert one post into the jaw and then attach an abutment, which allows us to connect a crown. The crown is custom-made to ensure it looks natural and blends with the smile and we use durable materials that can handle daily bite forces with ease. For some, we may place the post and wait before we attach the crown for the placement area to heal. For others, we could complete the entire process in only one visit.
Dental Prosthetics
But we can also handle more severe cases of tooth loss! If you have two to three missing teeth in a row, we could use one or two dental implants to support a bridge, one that lasts longer than a traditional bridge and can help you smile with confidence if you have lost several teeth or most/all of them. We could also guide the placement of several posts and attach a denture, often in the same visit, so you leave with a full smile after only one sitting. Whether you have minor or severe tooth loss, we can help you smile with confidence and enjoy your favorite foods again using implant dentistry.
If you have any questions about how we replace your missing teeth with dental implants, or if you would like to start your journey now to a full and beautiful smile, then please reach out to our office to get started. We want to make 2026 the year you finally obtain a stunning and beautiful smile, with replacement teeth that can last for decades to come!
Our Team Provides Dental Implants
With the right steps, we can help secure new and long-lasting teeth that look natural too. A full smile is possible, even if you have lost all of your natural teeth. Call Dreem Dentistry in Leawood, KS, today at (913) 681-5500 to schedule your visit with our friendly team.
