my Dental Implants

Dental implants are a good alternative to other forms of cosmetic dental work such as traditional bridges and crowns.

Although they are much more invasive, requiring surgery and considerable healing time, they last longer than other types of cosmetic dental work and once they are completed you can generally get on with your life without having to worry about their condition.

With dental implants, the initial expense is usually justified by the many years of convenience they provide over other methods.

Why get dental implants?

There are many reasons for getting dental implants. You may have lost a tooth through injury, playing sports, neglect of oral hygiene - or it may never have been there in the first place.

Some people are born with no secondary (adult) teeth below their deciduous (milk) teeth, and once the milk teeth fall out, there are no other teeth to replace them and so gaps appear which cannot be filled without dental intervention.

Potential complications

Another genetic factor in deciding whether to get dental implants is the depth of your jawbone.

If the amount of bone in your jaw is insufficient to hold the implant (see our What are Dental Implants page for a more technical description of what dental implants are) then you may be unable to have them implanted in your mouth, or your othrodontist/maxillo-facial consultant may consider additional surgery like bone grafting to thicken your jawbone.

Read My Experience of Dental Implant Surgery for a first-hand account of the process of getting dental implants, from intial diagnosis to surgery to teeth colour matching to finally having bright whites!

Of course, everybody's teeth are different and there is no substitute for having your mouth examined by your dentist, who will refer you to the relevant specialist consultants if required.

Dental implants have numerous advantages over traditional bridges or dentures (false teeth).

Better hygiene

Dental implants can be treated just like ordinary natural teeth. This means they require just the normal cleaning regime of brushing, flossing and regular dentist/hygienist appointments. Bridges and dentures require specialist chemicals and regular cleaning to stay clean and hygienic, which is time consuming and inconvenient.

Dental implants work just like real teeth

Dental implants are just like your real teeth - once they are fully 'installed' in your mouth, you can forget about them. They feel just like real teeth and are rooted in your gums just as strongly, so when chewing food etc they feel completely normal. Once the pain of surgery has gone you forget that you even have implants.

Dentures and bridges can easily be broken or damaged by very solid foods such as fresh apples, or they can press against the gums causing discomfort and swelling.

Dental implants look just like real teeth

Dentures and bridges can loosen (for example from eating hard foods) leaving unsightly gaps. Some other appliances have metal elements which look totally unnatural in your mouth. Dental implants are fixed to the gum and bone directly, and cannot come loose, while they are totally flush with your gum and so there is no indication that the tooth is not natural.