Dental Implants How dental implants work – a guide to permanent tooth replacement

Dental Implants How dental implants work – a guide to permanent tooth replacement

19 July 2016

Dental implants are the only permanent way a dentist can replace your missing teeth. At Staplehurst Dental Practice in Kent we can use implants to replace one, some, or all of your natural teeth. The results will be a new set of teeth that look and act just like their natural counterparts.

Benefits of choosing dental implants

There are numerous benefits to choosing dental implants over other tooth replacement options – standard bridgework and dentures. A traditional dental bridge requires healthy, strong adjacent teeth that are free from large fillings for support, and often necessitates the destruction of healthy tooth structure for crowns to be placed.

An implant-retained bridge needs no work on surrounding teeth, getting all the support it needs from your dental implants. More teeth can also be placed on an implant-retained bridge – in some cases a full arch of teeth can be supported by a few implants in this way.

Patients who wear traditional dentures often come to our Kent dental practice complaining that their false teeth, which once fitted snugly, have become increasingly loose, affecting their speech and diet, and devastating their confidence. Loose dentures are caused at least in part by resorbtion of the jaw bone, which happens when the tooth roots are missing.

Dental implants replace the roots of the teeth, holding a denture, crown, or bridge securely in place and helping to prevent bone loss. At our Kent dental practice we can use implants to stabilise your dentures, enabling you to eat, speak, smile and socialise with new-found confidence.

Kent dental implants

Most patients at our Kent dental practice only require local anaesthetic for the placement of dental implants, although your dentist can also provide this treatment under sedation if you are anxious, undergoing a longer procedure, or have a very strong gag reflex.

Sometimes you can have new teeth fitted at the same appointment, while in other cases it is best to leave your implants to heal for a few months. Your dentist may fit temporary teeth in this case.

After healing, your implants and crowns, dentures, or bridge will give all the function of natural teeth.