Losing your teeth or even only one tooth can often be a severe psychological blow. For those people who have teeth missing, wearing dentures or are about to lose their teeth, dental implants offer a superb permanent alternative and a highly predictable way to restore missing or failing teeth. Implant dentistry has made incredible progress over the last decade and is clearly the way forward for many of our patients.
What are dental implants?
A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that is inserted into the jaw to permanently hold artificial tooth or teeth in place. It is typically made out of titanium, which is biocompatible with the jawbone. The direct fusing of bone and an implant is called osseointegration, which is a special characteristic of titanium.
When you lose the entire tooth, shrinkage of the jawbone may cause your face to look older. Dental implants can stop this process. Dental implants look, feel and function like real teeth and your smile is restored for a more youthful appearance. A traditional denture or dental bridge doesn’t do this.
With traditional dental bridges, teeth adjacent to missing teeth are normally ground down to be use as anchors for a dental bridge. Dental implants often eliminate the need to modify healthy teeth.
At Smiles Radlett we conduct an Initial Dental Implant Consultation. At this initial appointment we discuss your wish list and the benefits of our dental implant treatment in Radlett as well as other possible considerations. Whether it be for restoring missing teeth/gaps, improving chewing, replacing dentures and failed bridges or preventing bone loss, dental implants usually are the best long-term option for these situations. We then also take necessary X-rays, impressions and other data required for diagnosis and treatment planning.
