Deep-rooted fit is advantage of latest tooth gap fill
It’s not always a pretty picture: more than 100 million Americans have missing teeth. Around 19 million adults have no teeth at all. While dentures or bridges fill the gaps for many, dental implants are becoming a popular, albeit costly, solution.
MODEL SMILE
A professional model and trainer, appearance means everything to Kristina Bant.
When the mid-twenty-something Bant lost a tooth, she was willing to invest in a dental implant to replace it. The perky, ambitious LA resident underwent surgery and spent 6 months recovering.
“I saw an endodontist and a periodontist and after being given my options of either a bridge or denture or dental implant, I went over what’s involved with each procedure and did my own research and I chose a dental implant,” she says. “With a dental implant I can do what I want, workout however I want, eat what I want, chew gum--I don’t have to worry.”
Occasionally Bant’s modeling jobs take her to remote locations. “I don’t want to have something happen and have to worry about finding a specialist or dentist,” she says.
POST POSITION
Dental implants are artificial teeth which function nearly like the real thing.
“Someone with complete dentures maybe has 25 percent of bite force of someone with all their teeth,” explains Director of Implant Dentistry Winston Chee, BDS, FACP at the University of Southern California. “When they have implants to restore their lower jaw, their bite force approaches 100 percent again.”
Their popularity has nearly tripled in the last few years.
While there are different kinds of implants, generally speaking a titanium post is drilled into the jawbone, assuring greater stability of the finished product. It takes 4 to 6 months for the jawbone to re-grow around the post. Once it’s capped with a porcelain tooth, the implant looks and feels real.
The implant...integrates into the jawbone and supports the restoration independently of the adjacent teeth,” reports Dr. Chee.
A bridge requires support from adjacent teeth which sometimes need shaping to fit.
COST AND LIMITATIONS
More and more dental patients are opting for dental implants, which don’t come cheap. A typical implant costs between US$1,000 and $2,000. Implants aren’t normally covered by dental insurance.
“That it is so natural outweighed the negatives for me,” says Bant.
Implants normally last a long time, can be brushed and flossed like ordinary teeth, and carry a 90 to 95 percent success rate.
Researchers are now working out how to reduce the healing time. “Somebody with severe diabetes or anything that will affect would healing will lower the success rate of implants.”
Besides the relative high cost, implants can get infected or break, but risks are minimal.
People who smoke or drink may not be good candidates.
Most any healthy person qualifies for an implant. A recent survey by the American Academy of Periodontology says people of all ages are choosing implants. But 43 percent of the 295 periodontists--gum specialists--polled said that half or more of the implants are placed on people ages 55 to 79, while 31 percent said half or more to those ages 35 to 54.
“Anatomically, [patients] need to have sufficient bone to house the implant,” says Chee.
A dental implant came at the right time for Kristina Bant. “I thought that I’d get it done now and I don’t have to have it replaced,” she says. “If I were to get a bridge they’d have to affect my other surrounding teeth. With a denture it’s less permanent. I would have to worry about it in a few years and think about it again.”
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