Dental implants are gaining quick popularity because of the effective solution they provide for a missing tooth or a few missing teeth. The best thing about these implants is that they enable you to use the artificial tooth just like your own natural tooth, without any worry of misplacement. Dental implants also need not to be removed for cleaning, they can be cleaned just the way you clean your normal teeth. This article aims to provide you with some vital information about these implants so that you can make an informed choice.
What Are Dental Implants?
Dental implants can be best described as metal made posts or frames that are implanted in your jawbone at the place of the missing tooth or teeth and then work as a root for the artificial tooth. The implant itself is not a tooth rather you can consider it as the root of an artificial tooth. Titanium is most commonly used as dental implants particularly due to its inactive nature and extensive longevity. Dental implants are placed through surgery and under normal conditions need not to be removed frequently.
Can Anyone Have Dental Implants?
To have dental implants there are some pre-requisites and every patient is not a good candidate for implants. As in this case the implant is placed in the jawbone through surgery so the patient should have healthy gums and sufficient bone to hold the implant properly. In dental implants Houston clinics bone grafting is often considered as a solution in case the jawbone is too thin or unable to support the implant, but even then too every patient is not a good candidate for grafting. It is your dentist who can give you the best suggestion about the most suitable process for you.
The Types of Dental Implants
According to the ADA, two types of dental implants are considered as safe – the Endosteal implants and the subperiosteal implants. The endosteal implants are surgically placed within the jawboneand after the wound has healed a post is connected to the base implant on which the artificial tooth or teeth are placed. On the other hand, in case of subperiosteal implants a metal frame is fixed within the jawbone under the gum tissue and the posts are attached to this frame after the wound of the first surgery has healed. Finally the artificial teeth are mounted on these posts.
Dental implants are more expensive than most of the other dental procedures but they usually make a better choice.