No one wants to lose their teeth. If you’re facing the prospect of losing your teeth for any reason, you might worry about what the future holds. Will you be able to eat your favorite foods? How can you smile with confidence without a full set of teeth?
If you’re ready to talk about restoring your smile with dental implants, you may wonder if it’s the right treatment for you.
Let’s take a look at what makes an ideal candidate for dental implants.
Who Needs Dental Implants?
Anyone with missing teeth who wants a permanent solution with the same strength, function, and appearance as natural teeth can benefit from dental implants.
You’re Missing One or a Few Teeth
There are lots of reasons teeth can go missing.
Periodontal disease is the number one cause of tooth loss in adults. Left untreated, gum disease damages the ligaments and bone socket that hold a tooth in place. Localized periodontal disease could lead to one or a few teeth becoming too loose to stabilize.
In other cases, extensive decay, infections, failing dental work, and severe wear can make teeth unsalvageable.
Even if you’ve had perfect teeth your entire life, trauma from car accidents, slip-and-fall incidents, or sports injuries can damage a tooth beyond repair. To prevent worse problems like pain and infections, it may be best to remove injured teeth.
You’re Struggling with Traditional Dentures
Although our goal is always to save as many natural teeth as possible, many people face total tooth loss, especially in their elder years.
While it can be localized in some cases, periodontal disease usually affects a large region or all the teeth in the mouth. This is the most common cause of a complete breakdown of a person’s dental health.
In the past, dentures were the only reasonable option to replace a complete set of teeth. But they have significant limitations that can make it hard to enjoy a good quality of life.
If you’re tired of struggling with dentures that slip, shift, or rub and cause painful sores, full mouth dental implants may be a great solution for you.
Dentures also limit you to a soft food diet, which can strain your overall health. Since dental implants restore full function to your bite, they’re also the best way to enjoy a full variety of your favorite foods, including juicy steak, fresh salad, and crisp apples!
Now that we’ve seen who can benefit from dental implants, let’s take a closer look at who makes a good candidate.
How to Tell If You Might Be a Good Candidate for Dental Implants
With today’s precision diagnostic imaging technology and cutting-edge surgical techniques, we can place successful dental implants for virtually any patient.
Ideal candidates for dental implants have:
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- One or more missing teeth.
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- Good overall physical health.
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- Plenty of healthy bone volume to support implant posts.
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- Stable gum health with minimal inflammation or bacteria.
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- Good oral care habits at home.
Dental implants have the best chance of long-term success for people who don’t smoke or use tobacco products because nicotine causes the blood vessels in the gums to constrict, which can interfere with the healing process.
If you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant soon, we may need to postpone your implant surgery until after you deliver.
What Could Prevent Me from Being a Good Candidate for Dental Implants?
There are a few issues that could mean dental implants aren’t the right approach for your specific situation.
However, these aren’t always insurmountable reasons not to get dental implants! In many cases, we may be able to create a plan that’s right for you.
Medical Conditions and Physical Health
Some medical conditions can interfere with healing and prevent your implants from achieving full strength. These conditions include:
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- Untreated diabetes
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- Osteoporosis
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- Bone disease
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- Blood diseases like hemophilia
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- Autoimmune disorders that affect healing
In many cases, we may be able to work around many medical conditions. However, if your physical health isn’t stable enough to tolerate the surgical process, we may need to find another option for you.
For example, patients with very high blood pressure may need to talk to their doctor first.
Medications
Medications like immunosuppressants and certain steroids could create complications. Others like blood thinners could make surgery too risky.
We may need to discuss whether you can temporarily stop taking some medications around the time of your surgery.
Active Periodontal Disease
This is the catch-22 of dental implants. Periodontal disease is the main issue leading to tooth loss. And yet the inflammation and bacteria from active gum disease could cause your implants to fail.
In some cases, we may need to resolve your active periodontal disease to decrease inflammation and bacteria around your surgery sites to improve your outcome.
Not Enough Bone
This is one of the main reasons patients get turned away from the life-changing potential of dental implants.
However, we may be able to create a suitable foundation by choosing alternative sites for your implant posts or building up healthy bone volume with grafts.
The Only Way to Know for Sure: Talk to Us!
The only way to know for sure whether you’re a good candidate for implants is with a thorough examination with our state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment.
The Fort Washington Dental Associates team includes a talented periodontist in Washington Heights, NY. That means you can get expert surgical care with the comfort and convenience of the dental office you already know and love!
Ready to start enjoying a strong, beautiful smile? Call us to schedule your consultation for dental implants today!
