Our Dental Blog

How Your Smile Supports Dental Implants

November 11, 2021

When you lose one or more of your natural teeth, this could leave your smile weakened and cause a breakdown in jaw structure. But! If we place dental implants, this could prevent this breakdown and offer you a full smile again! In today’s blog, your Kansas City, MO, dentist talks about how your smile supports dental implants.

artificial teeth

Evaluating Your Smile

Dental implants don’t need crowns, suction, adhesives, or clasps to stay in place. Instead, these free-standing posts will be inserted into the jawbone. Being made from titanium, which is biocompatible they actually bond with the jawbone just like a natural root would. However, to see if you’re ready we need to evaluate your smile with a thorough examine using digital CT scanning technology. This lets us assess the strength of your jawbone, and the presence of underlying oral health issues that could compromise your new smile. We will find out if you need treatment before we move forward to prepare your smile.

Placing New Roots

Once we know your smile is ready, we will use the digital images we took to plan the placement. We then administer a numbing agent and sedation before we gently insert the titanium posts into the jawbone. Through osseointegration, this bonds like a natural root. The process also begins to stimulate the growth of jawbone tissues, stopping the loss of mass and density that occurs following tooth loss. Your new roots could then stay in place for several decades, or for some, a lifetime. We then attach a restoration to a single missing tooth in the form of a crown, or use several to support a bridge or denture. We take care to ensure these will fit comfortably and offer a lifelike appearance, blending with your smile.

Supporting Your New Smile

Now that your smile is supporting your new teeth, you need to take care to allow these to last for decades to come. Your new teeth require the same level of care as your natural ones do, and that includes daily brushing and flossing, a healthy diet, no tobacco use, and of course, visits for checkups and cleanings every six months. We want to help your dental implants last and offer the lifelike, durable replacement you need to enjoy your favorite foods and smile with confidence again. An appointment now also means you can use any remaining 2021 dental insurance benefits or health savings funds, so you’re ready to end the year with a full smile, or at least on the path to one.

Do You Have Questions About Dental Implants?

We’re ready to address your missing teeth, whether you have one lost tooth or several. To learn more about how we secure your new teeth, then schedule a consultation by calling Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry of Kansas City, MO, today at 816-427-4018.