From your late teens to the end of your days, losing a tooth can be a very disturbing thing, whether the tooth is lost because of some accident or because some tooth disease made it necessary to have the tooth extracted. The one thing that you know for sure, no tooth will grow back to replace the one lost. If something isn’t done, the space left by the missing tooth could cause a distortion to occur in your facial features. Your dentist will tell you that you have two options for filling in the empty space. You could have a bridge made or you can consider dental implants in Apple Valley, MN. The problem with a bridge is that to secure it in place, you have to attach it to the surrounding teeth. Every time that you take the bridge out to clean it, that attachment scraps the enamel of the teeth it is connected to. This could cause problems for those teeth by making it easier for cavities to form.
Dental implants in Apple Valley, MN, on the other hand, are permanently implanted. The procedure includes connecting an anchor to the upper or lower jawbone with titanium screws, then permanently connecting a newly made tooth to that anchor. Over time the jaw bone continues to grow and literally fusses the anchor to the bone, making the implanted tooth even stronger than the surrounding teeth. This new tooth will never get a cavity or a tooth disease and with proper care will last the patient for the remainder of their life.
If you want a more in depth understanding of the implant procedure, you can do some research on the internet. When you visit dentist, you will be told what kind of anesthetic would be used and just how the anchor is attached to the jaw. It will let you know just how long it takes for the swelling to go down and what kind of care is suggested for the implanted tooth or teeth. You will find that brushing your teeth twice a day is what is recommended, just like for the naturally growing teeth. Your regular dentist will check the implant on your annual checkup, so really you don’t have to do anything extra to take care of the implant like you would with a bridge. If you are missing a tooth, call your dentist for an implant appointment today.
