Losing one or more of your teeth changes your smile, diminishes your ability to chew properly, and can impact your diet and nutrition. The challenges that arise from losing your natural teeth are coupled with bone loss that can cause you to lose more teeth. Losing teeth can also affect your ability to have a healthy, functioning mouth and jaw. However, this doesn’t have to be your fate! Dental implants can help preserve your bone and can protect your healthy teeth. They can also eliminate the need for dentures and provide you a permanent solution for a lost tooth. Increase your confidence today and get back your smile with a dental implant!

Dental Emergencies

Thousands of patients find themselves with a dental emergency each year. Some patients never have a dental emergency. However, when one happens, you want to act fast to save your smile and your teeth. Common dental emergencies include toothaches, a broken or cracked tooth, a knocked-out permanent tooth, cut or bitten tongue, lip or cheek, broken braces and wires, or any other problem with your oral health that requires immediate attention. If you injure or break a tooth, it’s important to act quickly to save a tooth.

If you knock out a permanent tooth, the American Association of Endodontists recommends taking action within 30 minutes of the dental emergency to save a tooth. If this is you, make sure you only pick up the tooth by the crown (or top) of the tooth. Never pick up or handle the root end. Rinse, but do not clean or handle the tooth more than necessary. Reinsert the tooth in the socket and hold it in place using a clean piece of gauze or cloth. If you can’t reinsert the tooth, carry it in a cup containing milk or water to keep the tooth alive and moist. Then, make sure to visit our office immediately. Even with the proper precautions, some patients will not be able to save a permanent tooth and we will have to use another dental option to restore their smile.

Cosmetic Dentistry Restores Smiles

We perform many services to keep your oral health in check and to prevent and treat cavities. However, there is another branch of dentistry known as “cosmetic dentistry”. General dentistry refers to the dental care you need to keep your teeth and gums healthy, clean and strong. Cosmetic dentistry refers to an array of customized dental treatments and procedures that are tasked with improving the appearance of your teeth and gums. Included in our cosmetic dentistry services are porcelain veneers and bonding, teeth whitening, dentures and dental implants.

Porcelain veneers are custom-made, tooth-colored shell that cover damaged or badly-stained teeth. We create these for your smile and bond them to your teeth to change a dull smile into something amazing. For those who want to brighten their smile in just one quick office visit, we use a teeth whitening treatment to remove surface stains safely and quickly. For our elderly patients or those with extensive gum disease, we also provide dentures, which are sets of teeth for the upper or lower jaws. Dental implants are one of our most popular cosmetic dentistry services we perform for patients.

What Is a Dental Implant?

A dental implant is a tooth restoration for people who are missing one or more teeth as a result of injury, periodontal disease or other oral health issue. Sports injuries and tooth decay are common causes of losing a tooth. A tooth can be knocked out immediately, or it can deteriorate over time if a cavity becomes large enough that it decays most of your tooth. A dental implant is a metal post that the dentist surgically positions into the jaw to replace the root of the lost tooth. We then allow this post time to heal in your jaw, which could take several weeks.

Once it has healed, we provide you a custom-made crown, which serves as a replacement tooth for the one that was lost. A dental implant can provide a person with superior benefits. They are stronger than your natural teeth and generally last 10-20 years if a patient takes good care of their teeth. They also don’t weaken neighboring teeth like a dental bridge can, as a dental implant can stand on its own. The benefits of dental implants make them a strong choice for restoring a patient’s smile.

The Advantages of Dental Implants

If you’ve lost a tooth, we recommend looking into receiving a dental implant. The technology and science behind a dental implant:

• Preserves bone. Other options can lead to bone deterioration, inhibiting normal eating, smiling, and natural facial structure.
• Provides a permanent solution. The durability of dental implants means that you can depend on them to function like your natural teeth, providing you the ability to eat foods you may have avoided before.
• Increases confidence. The natural appearance of dental implants and the natural functionality dispels anxieties that may have existed before the implant.
• Eliminates the need for dentures. Dentures are inconvenient, uncomfortable, and affect the way you speak.
• Protects your healthy teeth. Dental Implants preserve natural tooth tissue by avoiding the need to cut down adjacent teeth for conventional bridgework. They also reduce the need for subsequent restorative intervention of adjacent teeth. Individual implants additionally allow easier access between teeth, which helps improve oral hygiene.

Restore Your Smile

Losing a tooth is something no patient wants to do. Avoid losing a tooth by wearing a proper protective mouthguard during sports activities and exercise that require one. Keep up on your oral health hygiene by brushing your teeth at least twice a day and flossing every day. These habits coupled with visiting the dental office often can help reduce your risk for tooth decay that can destroy your teeth. If you have lost a tooth, call our Mountain Aire Dentistry office immediately at (303) 731-7755 so we can help restore your smile once more!