What a dentist in West Byfleet can do for missing teeth
If you have missing teeth, you are not alone. Many of our patients, unfortunately, have missing teeth due to accident, injury, poor health or even genetics, but thankfully, they do not need to deal with the consequences that missing teeth can have on your general health and wellbeing.
That is because they reacted quickly and took our advice about replacing their teeth with dental implants or another kind of restorative procedure aimed at enabling full functionality of your smile again.
Dental implants are perhaps the most preferred treatment under normal, healthy conditions for a dentist in West Byfleet to recommend to their patients. This is because it is a long-lasting solution, decades of use in fact, that require no further specific care other than monitoring the site of the implant and cleaning it appropriately to avoid infection once healed.
What is a dental implant?
Your dentist in West Byfleet will take you through a series of examinations and scans to determine whether dental implants are suitable for you. People who have bone conditions, uncontrolled diabetes or gum disease, for example, may find that they would be better suited to other forms of tooth replacement, such as dentures or bridges, however, you can speak with your dentist in West Byfleet during your consultation to determine whether this is you or not.
Essentially, a tooth implant is a replacement tooth root. We use a titanium metal rod and surgically implant it at the site of your missing tooth root or in the best possible location for the treatment that you are receiving. We use digital scans to precisely pinpoint this location in the instance of a denture stabilisation or multiple tooth replacement procedures.
Titanium is used because this is a material that is known to bond with the bone in your jaw and therefore creates a long-lasting and very stable result. It will take several months for this bond to occur, but we can monitor this over time and have a pretty good understanding of whether the implant is successful within the first few weeks.
You should know that about 98% of implants are successful, making them a relatively safe option for many of our patients, especially since there is no upper age limit!
Are there any limitations to this treatment?
It may be important to mention that for those people who are looking to stabilise their dentures having worn them for so long that they might need an additional procedure prior to having the implant treatment. This is because you need to have a certain amount of bone in your jaw present and it naturally recedes overtime when it is not stimulated.
When you lose a tooth and either not replace it or simply replace it with a denture that sits on your gum or a bridge that is attached to surrounding teeth, the bone is no longer stimulated as it should be. As a result, the cells no longer replenish and slowly over time, begin to weaken.
Because implants need a strong site in which to be secured, a bone graft might be necessary to ensure there is enough bone there to complete the treatment successfully. We can explain this to you during your initial appointment if applicable.