Cosmetic Dentistry: Are Dental Implants Necessary?

By Author: Dr. Kevin Gasser
Total Articles: 18
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Loosing teeth can be a confidence demolisher. Having a missing tooth or rotting smile makes most people become introverted and sometimes depressed.

Whether or not this is enough of a reason to get your smile back dental implants may be necessary for more reasons than just appearance.

Appearance

Overall a smile is a powerful thing. It affects social lives, business lives, and even our own body image. For most people this is enough of a reason to seek out cosmetic dentistry to fix missing or banged up teeth.

Dentures were an old favorite and for a while, the only solution. Now there are tooth implants, full bridge implants and a new popular
procedure called All-on-4 created by Dr. Paulo Malo and the Malo
Clinic.

Each of these options provides a more permanent, fixed solution than dentures previously could. If appearance isn’t a big enough motivator
to get you dentist hunting then there are plenty of other reasons.

Eating

Think of all the delicious savory foods that are either crunchy or are tender to chew. Not only does missing teeth make this more difficult ...
... but it rapidly gets tougher it left untreated. The jaw bone won’t “bite” together properly and make it really challenging to eat certain foods.

The part that is most concerning is the hardest foods to consume with the problem are the healthier foods like meat and vegetables. You would still be able to eat donuts and french fries. This can lead to malnutrition especially in those individuals that just choose not to eat because of the difficulty.

Speech

Language requires the tongue, mouth and teeth to pronounce the sounds properly. Without certain teeth it can create a lisp or speech impediment. If you have a job that requires good communication skills or customer service than this can harm your career.

Facial Shape

Most people have seen the effects of a sagging face in people who wear dentures or have missing teeth. This is just the physical effects of a major bone deterioration problem. Without the support of teeth the jaw bone will shift to fill the gaps.

It will also begin to deteriorate due to a lack of proper use. As the bone continues to be lost the problems mentioned above will become more serious problems and you’ll most likely lose all of the other teeth that were once healthy.

At what point does your specific situation become necessary? Communicating with your dentist is the first step to learning if your tooth loss could become potentially damaging to every other aspect in your life.