Dental implants are true medical marvels, completing gapped smiles from the root level on up. At Trabuco Hills Dentistry in Mission Viejo, CA, Dr. Ami Kagalwala and Dr. Jay Friedman frequently advise dental implant placement for healthy adults. Your dentist may recommend them for you, too.
A missing tooth changes everything
From your personal appearance to your self-confidence to your oral function and health, just one missing teeth starts a process of deterioration. Sadly, many adults in the United States have lost up to three permanent teeth, says the American Dental Association (ADA). While it's easier to ignore teeth absent from the back of the mouth where gaps are less obvious, even one empty socket impacts the future of your smile.
Here's how:
- Remaining natural teeth shift toward the gap, changing dental bite, appearance, and smile power.
- Biting and chewing weaken. So does speech.
- Self-esteem diminishes. It's just plain embarrassing to have a gapped smile.
- Almost immediately after extraction, the bone in your jaw and also your gum tissue starts to shrink. This recession ages your face. The more teeth you lose, the worse the impact is.
Fortunately, there's help
At Trabuco Hills Dentistry in Mission Viejo, CA, Dr. Jay Friedman is our implant dentist and prosthodontist. He can evaluate your dentition to determine if dental implants would work for your tooth replacement needs.
When you come to the office, he'll examine your teeth and gums and review your medical history. Also, he'll do special digital imaging to determine the quality of the bone in your jaw. Because titanium dental implants screw right into the alveolar ridge, there must be adequate support and opportunity for the bone cells to bond to the implant.
This bonding action, called osseointegration, takes several weeks to months, but it effectively anchors your new tooth root in place. At a later date, your oral surgeon at Trabuco Hills Dentistry attaches a metal post and porcelain crown to the implant. You have your new tooth and complete smile.
More extensive tooth loss
We help people with bigger smile gaps, too--even those with total tooth loss. If that sounds like you, you may qualify for implant-retained partial or full dentures. Two to six dental implants secure the prosthetic, and patients enjoy the same benefits of osseointegration--a secure bite and improved bone and soft tissue quantity.
A whole smile
Achieve it with dental implants from Dr. Ami Kagalwala and Dr. Jay Friedman at Trabuco Hills Dentistry. These dentists and their caring staff brighten smiles all over the Mission Viejo, CA, area. Phone for your dental implant consultation: (949) 859-1400.