Implants change the way people live! It’s a bold statement, but it’s true. Read more to learn why...

Just like losing any limb or appendage of the body, losing a tooth is like an amputation – it removes a functional body part and leaves a void in its place. In addition to its tangible absence, a missing tooth leaves behind impaired chewing, unstable jaw relationships, and disfiguring or embarrassing holes in the smile. Plus when the tooth goes away, so does the bone!

One of nature’s cruel jokes is that when a tooth is lost, the jaw bone around where it once lived slowly begins to dissolve away and disappear. This permanent loss of jaw bone can be disfiguring, and will complicate the proper restoration of form and function to areas of the mouth where teeth are missing.

An implant is like a bionic replacement. They are small titanium posts which are placed into the jawbone where teeth are missing. The surrounding bone gradually bonds or welds with the implant and creates an extremely durable foundation or post for a new crown, or for anchoring a denture firmly into place over it.

Dental implants are designed to provide a foundation for teeth that look, feel and function like natural teeth.  With dental implants, people can once again smile with confidence knowing their teeth look natural and are securely fastened.

Implants serve an important physiologic function in the jaw bones; a function called "bone banking". As mentioned above, when teeth are lost the bone surrounding the area naturally begins to dissolve away. This collapse of bone creates a potentially cosmetically disfiguring defect in the jaw bone, as well as to create a "pencil thin" denture ridge if all the teeth are lost. When this happens normal denture wearing is nearly impossible. When implants are placed, they help preserve and save bone.

Dental implants are an ideal choice to replace missing teeth. Implants allow tooth replacement without having to use adjacent teeth as anchors. Dental bridges require the use of adjacent neighboring teeth to provide an anchor for their support. Long bridges replacing multiple teeth are also subject to flexing or small amounts of bending, which can damage the anchor teeth and cause the bridge to fail early.

Dental implants avoid these concerns and spare adjacent teeth. They work best for people who are in good general health and who maintain good oral health and are in good control of their periodontal or gum health. They are so natural-looking and comfortable and work so well that you may just forget that you ever lost a tooth!

In almost every instance dental implants are a high quality solution for the missing teeth. In favor of implants, there are many advantages to consider, including:

Cosmetic: Dental implants are ideal replacements for missing teeth in your smile. They feel, look and function just like your own teeth. They help preserve bone and facial support and maintain the natural brilliance of a wonderful smile.

Confidence: Dental implants help restore your confidence to eat and speak again with comfort and without embarrassment. If you have a loose ill-fitting denture, implants provide much needed security from the annoying slippage, and freedom from the ever worrisome sore spots. You’ll enjoy not having to worry about lost or broken dentures, or the never-ending hassle of smelly denture adhesives.

Tooth Saving: Dental implants don’t require neighboring teeth for their support and function. The benefit her is that you don’t have to depend on or use adjacent teeth, a noteworthy benefit to your long-term oral health!

Function: Whether you are missing one, many or all of your teeth, imagine being able to chew just about anything – just like having your own natural teeth! Implants also help support and maintain normal jaw and jaw joint functions.

Reliable: Modern implant solutions not only make for some great smiles and provide for superb function, they are quite comfortable and are very durable. Imagine not having to worry any more about broken teeth or root canals on teeth that are questionable. Because implants are so predictable and durable they are an all around great choice for tooth replacement.

iCAT Dental Imaging

A new breakthrough in 3D imaging technology is the new CT "Cone Beam" Dental Scans. "CT" stands for Computerized Tomography. CT imaging allows dentists and surgeons to plan dental implant placement using powerful three dimensional computer programs. Like making blueprints for a building project, the CT scanning software lets dentists perform the first part of the implant placement on a computer before they are actually placed in the jaw. This reduces implant placement time and allows for a more precise implant placement. This provides quicker healing with the benefit of no stitches and virtually no pain.

Mini-Dental Implants

Mini-Dental Implants, called "Mini’s" are now taking the denture world by storm. These smaller sized implants are perfect for use on a lower jaw to help retain and stabilize a lower denture and to prevent additional loss of jaw bone from occurring. If you’ve been told that you can’t have dental implants because you don’t have enough jaw bone, this could be the perfect solution for you. When indicated they are a GREAT alternative to traditional implants.

If you are missing one or more teeth and would like to smile, speak and eat again with comfort and confidence, there is good news! Dental implants will replace and restore missing teeth that look and feel just like your own! With the proper placement and good homecare, implants can last a lifetime.

With all of these technical benefits of dental implants and knowing how they help us overcome the effects of missing teeth, it’s easy to forget the real reasons that people choose implants. They want to be "normal"!

It is well established that how you feel about your teeth and smile affects how you feel about yourself. Personal, social and professional confidence is improved when teeth are replaced or dentures are secured with implant anchors. Dental implants are so natural that you’ll soon forget you ever lost anything.

Just think – with implants you won’t have to worry about hiding an unattractive or embarrassing smile, or wonder if your denture might sneeze or cough its way onto the restaurant table in front of business associates or friends … or heaven forbid lose them over the side if you were sea sick on that special cruise in an America’s Funniest Home Video moment!

Indeed, dental implants can change the way that some people live!