Bone Loss Means Loss of Support
Bone loss in your teeth, or rather, around them, means loss of support. Once lost, bone doesn’t easily grow back.Bone is important to your smile; losing it can complicate your health and appearance. Is there any way dental implant therapy at Chrysalis Dental Centres can help?
How Bone Loss Affects Your Smile
Bone loss is a hallmark of advanced gum disease. When gum disease goes untreated, the bone surrounding the affected tooth breaks down. This means that even once the disease stops advancing, the tooth loses a lot of support. Periodontal, or gum, disease is a common cause of bone and tooth loss.
Another cause of bone loss is a denture. Dentures are meant to rest over gums and bone with a snug fit. This helps them to stay in place. But with time the pressure from dentures can cause bone to wear away. This means that dentures need to be adjusted on occasion to fit your mouth.
Have you had any teeth shifted or lost due to gum disease? Have you noticed a change in the shape and height of your smile since you’ve worn dentures? Preventing bone loss in your teeth can help you to enjoy a beautiful and natural smile.
Addressing Bone Loss Around Your Teeth
To cope with changes in bone, you have a few options:
- Continue adjusting your denture to fit your smile
- Surgical bone grafting or augmentation
- Implant therapy
As mentioned earlier, adjusting a denture won’t prevent further bone loss. Bone grafting in itself can prepare a site to receive an implant, but requires more surgery and time. What are the benefits of dental implant therapy in addressing bone loss?
How Dental Implants Work
Dental implants don’t just fill in a gap in your smile. An implant serves as the replacement for the unseen root of a tooth, as well. Like a tooth root, the implant puts pressure inside the bone of the jaw during biting. This natural force can stimulate bone growth. This in turn can stabilize an implant and reinforce surrounding bone tissue.
Dental implants could prevent bone loss because they rest inside bone, not on top of it. This means that they could save your jaw from changing in shape and height.
Your Dental Implant Options
From a single implant to an implant-supported bridge to full-mouth implants, you have many options. If you need to address bone loss in one area of your smile, there is likely a way implants can help. Even if you already have a full denture, your smile is not beyond saving.
As few as four dental implants are often placed at strategic angles to make the most of existing bone in your arch. These implants can then support a full mouth dental prosthesis. This implant-supported denture shouldn’t rub against your gums, which can prevent bone loss. This technique can also help you avoid the need for bone grafting.
The specialists at Chrysalis Dental Centres are ready to help you start saving the bone in your smile.
Give us a call today to learn more!
Call 1 888 733-6983