A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that acts as a replacement for missing teeth. This form of tooth replacement is typically made from titanium material for its lightweight and superior compatibility with the human body.
A dental implant is very small, about the size of a natural tooth root. It is surgically placed in the bone beneath the gums, where it can serve as a replacement tooth root. Once healed, a crown is attached to the top of the implant, and the crown is matched in color to the adjacent teeth.
Once in place, a dental implant crown looks, feels, and functions just like real teeth. This makes this tooth replacement option an ideal solution for people who have suffered the loss of a tooth or multiple teeth from injury, decay, or periodontal disease.
In general, dental implants have a 95% success rate. This makes them the most reliable way to replace your missing teeth over the long term. Dental implants have become the standard of care for tooth replacement.
Take our quiz to find out if you are a dental implant candidate.
Implant-Supported Teeth vs. Removable Dentures
Replacement teeth supported by dental implants are the closest clinical option to natural teeth. In fact, people who have dental implants often say they don’t even think of them as tooth replacements—they think of them as their own teeth. That’s because implant-supported teeth look, feel, and function like natural teeth.
Dental implants provide strong, stable points of attachment for a single tooth or a complete set of new teeth. Once the implants have healed or integrated with the bone, virtually no food is off-limits. Conversely, removable dentures frequently shift when chewing coarse food.
What’s more, dental implants help preserve bone quality and quantity, ensuring that the replacement teeth will not slip or lose their fit over time as removable partials and dentures will. When well-maintained, implant dentistry can help to satisfy an individual’s oral health needs for a lifetime!
Why Dental Implants vs. Traditional Dentures?
- The gold standard for tooth replacement
- An investment that can last a lifetime
- Helps preserve bone quality and volume, reducing the appearance of premature aging
- Works and feels like your own natural teeth
- Strong and stable—no slippage or need for removal
- Replaces teeth
- Provides firm support of facial structures (lips and cheeks)
- Restores proper chewing ability up to 100% to allow for a better diet and improved health
- No need for costly denture creams or adhesives
Implant Options for Missing Teeth
Multiple dental implant options are available for replacing missing teeth. The option chosen will largely depend on an individual’s tooth replacement need.
A single missing tooth is usually replaced with a single dental implant and crown. When three or four teeth in a row are missing, as few as two dental implants may be used to support a dental implant bridge. And when a whole set of upper or lower teeth are missing, only four to six dental implants are required to support a full set of missing teeth. The dental implant procedure used to replace a full set of teeth is frequently referred to as the TeethXpress® (pronounced Teeth Express) full-mouth dental implant procedure.
