COMMON DENTURE PROBLEMS
There are several problems that come with wearing dentures, some of which are manageable and others that are inevitable.
Difficulty Eating and Speaking
Even well-sized dentures can slip out of place when your mouth is moving, especially when you’re chewing or talking. The pressure and motion can frequently cause them to slip loose, especially if you’re not accustomed to dentures. This makes for embarrassing moments where the dentures slip out of place at inopportune times, which is never pleasant.
Excess Saliva
Having a large, foreign object in the mouth stimulates your mouth to produce more saliva. While this isn’t the most serious problem, it can be obnoxious having to swallow so frequently. Not to mention, this increases the odds of incidents like accidentally spitting while speaking.
Long-Term Jaw Decay
The worst negative impact of wearing dentures is the way that it causes serious bone degeneration over time. Your body maintains the jaw by an active process as it sends nutrients to support your teeth. Without the stimulation of teeth and their roots against your jaw, your body will stop sending these nutrients and cease jaw maintenance. Over time, your jaw can lose much of its mass and this can also compromise any healthy teeth that remain in your jaw.
WHY CHOOSE DENTAL IMPLANTS VS DENTURES
While tooth decay is always a difficult experience, dental implants are a better, healthier alternative to dentures. When you receive a dental implant, the device fully replicates the role of a tooth. There’s even a metal root that serves the double purpose of safely anchoring the tooth as well as providing ample jaw stimulation. A single dental implant can last for decades and help you maintain a healthy, beautiful smile in the time before you replace it.
Chew and Speak Just as Easily as Before
A dental implant is functionally indistinguishable from a tooth, which spares you most of the awkward problems and inconveniences that come with dentures. There’s little to none of the excess saliva production that characterizes dentures, which translates into better comfort in your day-to-day life. The firmness and security of a dental implant also contribute to an easy, comfortable experience as you go about your normal activities.
Maintain Oral Health
Dental implants are great for just about every facet of your oral health. For one, the fact that each implant stands as an individual tooth makes it easy to clean by brushing and flossing. Your dental implant will also help support the health of the rest of your mouth, though. Teeth rely on each other to stand up in proper alignment, so filling the gap left by tooth loss prevents your remaining, healthy teeth from growing crooked and exposing their roots.
A dental implant also physically protects your sensitive gum tissue by covering it and obstructing bacteria. Perhaps most of all, though, dental implants stimulate the jaw and prevent it from decaying in the way that dentures do. This and other good qualities of dental implants protect your health as well as the beauty and warmth of your smile.
Keep Your Natural Smile
After losing a tooth, a lot can happen to detract from the beauty of your smile. Besides the gap that becomes present, adjacent teeth can eventually become crooked and uncomfortable. Protecting your oral health and maintaining a beautiful smile truly go hand in hand. With this in mind, it’s also important that a dental implant looks realistic and believable. Even if your implant tooth is front-and-center in your smile, the crown is carefully crafted and detailed to fit in and not be obvious or distracting.
You Eventually Lose the Choice
Choosing between dental implants or dentures carries a lot of gravity, as it has real, long-term consequences. Perhaps the biggest reason to opt for dental implants is that you simply won’t have the option forever. Dental implants need a healthy, full jaw to anchor in, and the loss of stimulation that comes with years of denture usage will eventually make it so dental implants are no longer an option.
DENTAL IMPLANT REQUIREMENTS
While most people are eligible for dental implants, some people don’t have the option. Advanced jaw decay is also only one reason why people become ineligible for dental implants. The leading reasons that dental implants may not be an option for you are:
- Your jawbone is either too immature or too decayed to support an implant
- Your immune system is unhealthy enough for surgical procedures
- You take any medications that suppress the immune system or otherwise compromise the process
If this sounds like you, it’s unfortunate but you’ll need to seek another avenue for dental care. On the other hand, if you have a healthy immune system that isn’t compromised by medications and a full adult jawbone, reach out to Dynamic Smile Design for dental implants.