Dental implants have transformed dentistry, although that may be an understatement.
Dental implants are the best tooth replacement option developed in human history. That’s probably why the man who created the modern implant was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame earlier this month.
We will tell you a little more about him — and how he came to create his implants — in a moment. The main thing we want you to know is that dental implants are the best way to replace missing teeth, whether you are missing one tooth or need to replace every tooth in your mouth.
If you live in or near Buffalo Grove, IL, the best place to get your teeth replaced is North Shore Smile Surgery.
How Rabbits Improved Dentistry
Dr. Per-Ingvar Brånemark is credited as being the creator of the modern dental implant. His invention came initially because of a seemingly unrelated research project.
Dr. Brånemark is a Swedish physician. He was studying blood circulation and the behavior of red and white blood cells when he made an unexpected discovery.
As part of his research, he had placed titanium cylinders into a rabbit’s leg. At the time he expected to remove the cylinder, he discovered that it was stuck. He learned that the bone in the rabbit’s leg had bonded and grown around the titanium cylinder.
Dr. Brånemark even coined a term for this process, osseointegration. More importantly, he recognized the potential for this discovery.
He continued to study osseointegration and developed a dental implant, which he first placed for a patient in 1965. Since that initial successful procedure, he and others have improved on the original implant design to make them even more effective for patients around the world.
This remains a major step forward in how dentists and oral surgeons do teeth replacement procedures.
Why Replacing Teeth Matters
There are many reasons you should replace your missing teeth, but we are going to give your three reasons today.
► To Preserve Your Smile
This is a reason that matters to most patients. It’s understandable. When you smile, you want people to see a full set of teeth, not a distracting gap where a tooth or teeth should be.
Your smile tells people how you feel about yourself and, often, about meeting them. Fair or not, other people use your smile to assess how friendly and how trustworthy they consider you.
If you lose a tooth or teeth, you may lose confidence, and you may smile less as a result. This can lead people to get the impression that you are either sad or upset instead of happy to see them.
Replacing your missing or lost teeth will help you maintain your smile for years to come.
► To Support Your Remaining Teeth
Whether you belong to a support group or have seen them portrayed on television, then you have some idea how they are supposed to work. The members of the group provide mutual support to help one another with a common issue.
Your teeth are like a support group as well. Each of your teeth moves slightly throughout the day. The effects of those movements are minimal, in large part, because of the support created by their neighboring teeth.
When your teeth press into one another, this helps them to remain in the same position at the end of the day.
If you remove one or more teeth, some of your other teeth may slowly start to drift into that open space. As your teeth drift out of position, this can affect your ability to bite and chew your food, and it can cause the mutual support to break down even more.
► To Help Your Jaw Health
Quite often when someone loses teeth, he or she is focused on the visible effects. You may not be aware the something just as concerning is occurring under your gums.
The roots of your teeth keep your jaw healthy and strong by pressing into the bone. This pressure sends a signal to your jawbone to replace old tissue with new tissue.
If you don’t have teeth, you don’t have roots, and this can cause you to lose bone mass. Over time, this can put more teeth at risk of falling out and create changes in your facial structure.
Dental implants can fix this. When dental implants are placed in your jaw, they replace the roots. Implants also press into your jawbone to provide the stimulation that it needs to remain healthy and strong.
Stay Strong With Implants
Dental implants can be used to preserve your smile and your oral health whether you need a dental crown to replace a single tooth or dentures to replace all your teeth. Our dentist, Dr. Frank, has helped thousands of patients, and he would like to help you at our office in Buffalo Grove, IL.
You can fill out our online form or call 847-276-2500 to schedule an appointment to restore your smile at North Shore Smile Surgery.
