Dental Implants and Oral Health

At Loukas Dentistry of Park Ridge, we offer patients state-of-the-art dental implant procedures. In addition to restoring missing teeth, research shows implants are beneficial to a patient’s dental health. Park Ridge dentists, Dr. Maria Loukas and Dr. Thanasi Loukas, explain how dental implants improve the appearance of your smile and your overall oral health.

Preventing Tooth Loss

Missing teeth threaten the stability of your smile. When you lose a tooth, the body responds by halting the flow of crucial nutrients to the jawbone around the empty socket. Deprived of vital doses of calcium and phosphorus, patients begin to lose jawbone density. The loss of bone density increases the risk of further tooth loss. Furthermore, the surrounding teeth often drift towards the empty socket, causing unsightly, and often painful, misalignment. When patients receive dental implants or implant-retained dentures, the body accepts the implants as natural teeth. The body then resumes the flow of nutrients to the bone tissue, preventing bone loss. With dental implants, your smile can be returned to full function and appearance.

Safeguarding Your Smile

While dental bridges restore missing teeth, the procedure also requires the loss of tooth structure in order to place the bridge. A bridge requires crowns attached to the replacement tooth to be placed onto natural teeth on either side of the missing tooth. Placing crowns requires the removal of tooth structure to accommodate the new restoration. Unlike crowns and bridges, dental implants can be placed individually into the sockets of the missing teeth. As a result, patients no longer need to endure the removal of tooth structure, thus safeguarding their smile. Since dental implants act as natural teeth, brushing and flossing become easier, improving dental hygiene and helping your smile to remain free of decay or periodontitis.