5 Amazing Benefits of Dental Implants You May Not Already Know About

If you’re missing a tooth (or teeth), dental implants can replace what’s missing and restore the functionality of your mouth. 

There’s a lot to love about dental implants. They look and feel like your natural teeth, provide you with an aesthetically pleasing smile restoration, and boost your self-confidence. 

This is just the tip of the dental iceberg. Read on as our team of dentists here at Smile Design Studio of Bethesda in Bethesda, Maryland, share five more benefits of dental implants. 

1. Implants preserve your jawbone 

Your tooth roots stimulate your jawbone to keep growing, but when you lose a tooth (and therefore your tooth roots), your jawbone isn’t stimulated to keep growing. This can lead to jawbone atrophy (loss). 

This also accounts for the sunken appearance that develops in edentulous (toothless) individuals. 

Dental implants can combat jawbone atrophy. Unlike traditional bridges or dentures, dental implants stimulate bone growth and preserve jawbone density. Not only does this preserve the integrity of your jaw, but it also helps maintain your facial structure.

2. Dental implants are permanent 

With proper care, dental implants can last a lifetime. That’s because the implant post is surgically embedded into your jawbone. Your bone and the titanium post fuse in a process called osseointegration. This is what gives your dental implants such a strong and sturdy foundation.

That being said, you may need to replace the crown (the prosthetic tooth), but as many as 80% of people can make it to the 20-year mark before needing to replace the crown. You can reduce your odds of damaging your crown by practicing good oral care and refraining from chewing on non-food items like pen caps or ice.

3. They provide clear speech and improved digestion

Dental implants function like natural teeth, and so they allow you to chew comfortably and speak clearly without worrying about them slipping, as dentures might. Because implants are surgically implanted, you don’t have to rely on messy denture adhesive either. 

There’s an added bonus to chewing your food thoroughly: improved digestion. 

Missing teeth can limit your ability to thoroughly chew your food, which can lead to indigestion, bloating, acid reflux disease, and even diarrhea.  By replacing your missing teeth, you’re able to avoid the pitfalls of poorly chewed food.

4. Dental implants are customizable 

When you think about dental implants, you might imagine a single prosthetic tooth, but that’s only half of the picture. Dental implants can replace a single tooth, but they can also replace an entire arch. 

Here at Smile Design Studio of Bethesda, we offer All-on-X® Full Arch dental implants to restore an entire mouth of missing teeth. The concept is simple: You receive a few dental implants that support your entire row of missing teeth. If you have four posts, it’s referred to as All-on-4, and if you have six posts, it’s referred to as All-on-6.

This eliminates the need to have a single implant for every tooth, but it still provides the same coverage as traditional full dentures. 

5. Implants protect your remaining natural teeth

Unlike dental bridges, dental implants don’t require the alteration of adjacent teeth. To support a bridge, you need two crowns placed to support the pontic (the prosthetic tooth). This requires that your adjacent teeth are prepared to receive the crowns. 

Dental implants don’t require this step.

Bonus benefit: You can receive your dental implants in one day

With TeethExpress Same Day dental implants, you can have your implants surgically implanted and crowns placed on the same day.

If you’re missing teeth and wonder if dental implants — whether that's a single implant, All-on-X implants, or implant-supported dentures — are right for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re more than happy to walk you through your options so you can experience these benefits for yourself.

Call us at 301-907-8201, or simply click here to request an appointment.