Dental Implants: Why There's No Better Choice for Replacing Missing Teeth

Your teeth are tough and can withstand a lot, but even the strongest teeth can succumb to injury or tooth decay. In fact, a whopping 178 million Americans are missing at least one tooth, and 40 million are missing all of their teeth. To fill in the gap, we have a number of options, but none surpass dental implants in both form and function.

At Popper Dental, we pride ourselves on offering the latest dentistry practices and products to our clients on the Upper East Side of New York City. If you’re missing a tooth, we provide several solutions, including dental implants, which are fast gaining in popularity as people realize that implants preserve their smiles and their dental health.

Here’s a look at why there’s no better choice for replacing missing teeth than dental implants.

Down to the bone

When you lose a tooth, you lose much more than you see above your gum line. Each of your teeth has roots that go deep into your jawbone, which is what gives your teeth their strength and stability. And the bone tissue in your jaw is in a constant state of renewal, shoring up the support in areas where it registers activity.

With a missing tooth, you also lose your roots. This means that your bone is no longer receiving any signal that the area is active, so the bone in your jaw where your tooth once was ceases to renew itself. Eventually, the bone deteriorates because of the lack of stimulation, and this bone loss can affect your surrounding teeth, causing them to shift.

And the problem only grows worse with time. If your existing teeth are in peril because of the bone loss, they may come out, further compounding the issue. And on it can potentially go until you have no teeth left standing.

Setting up new roots with implants

As we mentioned, there are several ways that we can go about replacing missing teeth, but the dental implant is unique in that we create a new “root” in your jawbone. At the heart of the dental implant is a titanium post, which we insert into your jawbone. Once inserted, your body takes over and fuses the implant into place by growing bone tissue up and around the post.

From there, the final step is an easy one — we simply place a crown over the implant, which fits in seamlessly with your existing teeth.

With other prosthetic options, we aren’t able to recreate a root in your jawbone, which means you can still incur bone loss even though we’ve solved the problem above your gum line.

Beyond bone loss

While a dental implant offers protection against bone loss, it also provides superior stability because we’re creating a new root. With other prosthetics, their stability relies on neighboring teeth, not on your strong jawbone. For all intents and purposes, a dental implant is much like any other tooth in your mouth, firmly anchored in your jawbone allowing you to chew and speak with ease.

Providing support

In addition to replacing single teeth with our Nobel Biocare™ implants, we also offer the innovative All-on-4® implants for patients who are missing entire rows of teeth. With just four or six strategically placed implants, we can provide the necessary support for a full arch of teeth.

In fact, with dental implants, we can set the stage for several restorations, including:

• Crowns
• Bridges
• Partial dentures
• Full dentures

If you’d like to learn more about the many possibilities with dental implants, please give us a call at 212-396-8182 or use our easy online booking tool to set up an appointment.