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Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley CA
Many adults have at least one missing tooth and the risk of tooth loss increases with age. Losing a tooth can affect your ability to eat healthy foods, speak clearly, and impact your self-confidence. Tooth loss can impact one’s physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. If you’re tired of dealing with tooth loss and feel embarrassed about your smile, it may be time to consider dental implants to restore your smile. Today on our newest blog, our implant dentists in Scotts Valley at Ebrahimian Integrative Dentistry share the long-term effects of tooth loss and how implants can help you live a healthier life overall.
Consequences of tooth loss
Whether you have a tooth pulled in the back or in a highly visible area like a front tooth, missing just one single tooth can alter your biting pattern, making it difficult to chew or pronounce certain words. Sometimes, tooth loss may cause jaw joint disorders like temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) or lead to other health consequences like the deterioration of other teeth and dental work that you’ve had done before. In some cases, once tooth loss begins, it often progresses as other teeth need to be pulled. One way to rebuild and stabilize your bite is with dental implants. The implant post takes the place of the missing tooth’s root, and then a crown is permanently placed on top of the implant. The implant crown looks like a real tooth, and no one will be able to tell the difference.
How dental implants can help
Aesthetic Improvement
Missing a tooth creates a gap in your smile, which can be noticeable by others and cause the wrong kind of first impression when meeting others. With dental implants, you won’t have to hide your smile or smile closed lipped. Dental implants help create an aesthetic improvement as the implant crown blends in naturally with your surrounding teeth. The porcelain used to create dental crowns, even those used for implant cases, have a natural translucency that mimics dental enamel, making the crown even more aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.
Oral Health Improvement
Dental implants not only improve the look of your smile but can help you maintain better oral health. For starters, having a beautiful smile makes a person more likely to want to care for their teeth and gums by brushing and flossing daily. Another improvement with dental implants is that they may be easier to clean than your natural teeth once were. For instance, if your extracted teeth were previously crooked or overlapping, the dental crowns will be made so that your teeth appear straighter, which makes them easier to clean. Additionally, dental implants help fill gaps in your smile and provide jawbone support to help prevent jawbone erosion and future tooth loss.
Enhances Bite Functionality
Restoring your smile with dental implants means a stable bite so that you can eat and chew what you want. Patients that are missing one or more teeth often find that their diet is limited to easy to chew foods or soft/mushy food, which isn’t always nutritious. Thankfully, dental implants put an end to diet restrictions as you can eat what you want, whether it’s grilled meat, crunchy fruits and vegetables, or crusty breads.
Dental Implants in Scotts Valley, Los Gatos, and Santa Cruz, California
If you’re considering dental implants, you’ve come to the right place. Not only will your oral health improve, and your smile look amazing, but your emotional well-being will be better as well because you will no longer feel stressed or anxious about your teeth or smile. Learn more about dental implants or find out if you are a candidate by calling Ebrahimian Integrative Dentistry at (831) 438-4411.
