Are Dental Implants Right for Me?
Anyone who is missing one or more teeth due to injury, disease or tooth decay is a good candidate for dental implants. Generally speaking, if you’re healthy enough to have a tooth extracted, you’re probably healthy enough to receive dental implants.
What are Dental Implants?
A dental implant is a small titanium fixture that serves as a replacement for the root portion of your missing tooth. Your St. Paul Dental Implants Office can place dental implants in either the upper or lower jaws. Using local anesthesia, these small titanium roots are implanted into the bone and ultimately integrate with the bone securely, often resulting in a more stable structure than the tooth’s natural root. Dental implants can be used as replacements for either single or multiple missing teeth.
Why dental implants?
Improved Confidence and Lifestyle: If you’re embarrassed because of missing teeth, dental implants will transform your smile by eliminating unsightly gaps. Dental implants help you regain a more youthful smile. You will be able to enjoy all your favorite foods with confidence because of the sound structure of your teeth. At Saint Paul Minneapolis Dental Implants office, my team and I use the highest quality materials to craft state-of-the-art durable dental implants.
Improved Appearance: Replacing missing teeth is not only good for your general health but can improve your appearance as well. Without the root structure of a natural tooth present, the jawbone can shrink over time, affecting your overall appearance by giving your face a “sunken” appearance, making you appear older than you actually are.
Maintain Bone Structure: Allowing your missing tooth to continue without a replacement is not only unattractive, but can eventually change the structure of your jaw, affecting your bite and ability to chew and speak properly. The dental implant provides the benefit of helping your jaw to continue to generate bone tissue, keeping your jaw and mouth healthy.
Preserve natural teeth: With traditional dental bridges, teeth adjacent to missing teeth are usually ground down to be used as anchors for a dental bridge. Dental implants often eliminate the need to modify healthy teeth.
Provide a Permanent Solution: Unlike crowns or other dental prosthetics, the implant becomes an integral part of the structure of your jaw and will, under normal conditions, serve you for life without further adjustment.
Is the procedure painful?
At our Saint Paul Minneapolis Dental Implants office the procedure can be done in as little as 45 minutes, and we have a variety of sedation options, depending on your needs. The procedure requires only local anesthesia, but we do have nitrous oxide and oral sedatives for patients who feel anxious and would prefer a stronger sedative.
How do I care for my new dental implants?
Dental implants will not develop cavities like natural teeth, but you will need to maintain routine office visits so that your new teeth can be cared for and checked regularly and to ensure that the rest of your teeth are strong and healthy. My team and I will guide you in the most effective ways to brush and floss to keep your implants and your natural teeth healthy.