Dental Implants for Single and Multiple Tooth Loss

Are dental implants preferable for single tooth loss, or for replacing several lost teeth at a time? If you’ve only lost one, is a dental implant necessary? Given the continuing effects of tooth loss, even a single missing tooth can devastate your oral health. As a prosthetic root, a dental implant may offer your replacement tooth the best chance of preserving your smile. If you’ve lost more than one tooth, then an appropriate number of implants can be used to support a larger prosthetic, such as a partial or a complete denture. As your Park Ridge implant dentists explain, dental implants can improve your dental restoration regardless of how many teeth you’ve lost, and may even help prevent further tooth loss in the future.

Dental Crowns Instead of Bridges

Dental bridges are the traditional method for replacing a single lost tooth, or multiple teeth in a row. Flanked by two dental crowns, a dental bridge is held in place by securing the crowns to the remaining teeth adjacent to the gap. The abutment teeth can effectively support the permanent dental bridge, but Drs. Maria and Thanasi Loukas prefer to leave healthy tooth structure undisturbed. By placing a dental implant in your jawbone’s empty socket, then placing a dental crown on top of the implant, Dr. Loukas can replace your lost tooth with a more lifelike replica, and without modifying the healthy teeth around it.

More Stable Partial and Complete Dentures

If you’ve worn dentures for a while, you may wonder if there’s an effective way to prevent them from slipping. After a while, dentures that once fit tightly and snugly can grow loose and uncomfortable, moving around every time you open and close your mouth. The most dominant factor behind loose dentures is the changing shape of your dental ridge, which results from jawbone deterioration following the loss of your teeth’s roots. Dental implants address denture slippage in two ways; implants provide a more stable hold than dental adhesives, and they help prevent jawbone deterioration by replacing the roots of your lost teeth.

About Dr. Maria and Dr. Thanasi Loukas:

Whether you wish to protect your smile from dental disease and damage, or restore your smile after suffering tooth loss, we can help you regain your oral health and confidence through a new and improved smile. Dr. Maria and Dr. Thanasi Loukas are highly-skilled restorative and cosmetic dentists serving the Park Ridge and surrounding Chicago communities. To schedule an appointment, call Loukas General Dentistry today at (847) 696-1919.