Our smiles are the most important things about us, helping us to communicate and connect with others. When we have a gap in our teeth, an overbite, or crooked teeth, we don’t feel like smiling and that affects the way people treat us. Over time, that can even affect how we feel about ourselves, giving us low self-esteem and a poor outlook on the world. Fortunately, there’s hope for correcting our teeth at any age.
One missing tooth can affect our entire smile, leaving a gap that causes other teeth to shift. As they try to compensate for the missing tooth, the remainder of our teeth will become crooked or can even cause an overbite to occur. By getting a dental implant to replace the missing tooth, you strengthen your overall smile and ensure better oral health.
Best of all, dental implants provide a long-lasting solution. They look and feel like real teeth, so you’ll have a natural looking smile and will feel more confident. Using the latest technological advances, each implant is customized and fitted specifically to the individual patient to ensure compatibility.
Similar to natural teeth, an implant is comprised of several parts. The actual implant is attached to the jawbone. This helps it to mimic the function of the root of a real tooth. Later, after the bone and gums have grown around the implant, an abutment is added, which helps to secure the crown to the implant. In many cases, the abutment is constructed from titanium and custom fitted to the implant. The crown is set in place with screws, so the implant and abutment can be repaired or adjusted, if the need arises.
Much like the crowns used to cover drilled and filled teeth, the teeth implants in Chicago can be crowned with a number of different materials. Though the available crowns may vary by the dentist, the most commonly available materials are cubic zirconia, porcelain, resin, stainless steel, palladium, chromium, and gold.
In the past, replacing a tooth required a cumbersome bridge and often didn’t look natural. Now, dental implants make it possible to restore your smile and make it compatible with the rest of your teeth. Maintaining good oral health is made a little easier with the possibility of a natural-looking dental implant.