Dental implants at a glance

• Dental implants are substitutes for the roots of missing teeth. They act as an anchor for a replacement tooth or crown or a set of replacement teeth.

• Replacing missing teeth is important to an individual’s general health and to the health of remaining teeth. Chewing ability is lost when a tooth is lost. Unreplaced teeth can cause other teeth to be lost, tipped or crowded and create subsequent problems. There are also the obvious problems of poor appearance and loss of self-esteem caused by one or more missing teeth.

• Dental implants may be the right choice for anyone missing one or more teeth due to injury, disease or decay. They are especially practical for patients who can no longer wear removable dentures.

• Replacement of lost teeth with dental implants has been used for treating missing teeth for more than 50 years and is recognized as an effective treatment choice.

• Dental implant reatment is considered more predictable than other treatment options.

• Dental implants should always be considered as an option to replace a failing or missing tooth.

• It is important for a patient to have enough bone to support the dental implant. If there is not enough bone, there are many safe and effective ways to correct bone deficiency.