When you lose a tooth, we could replace a missing one with an individual dental implant. If you have advanced tooth loss, including the loss of most natural teeth, then we could still help with dental implants! With implant dentures and All-On-Four, your Brooklyn, NY, periodontist and implant expert talks about treating your advanced tooth loss! We can offer a set of new and fixed dentures that last far longer than traditional removable options.
The Causes of Advanced Tooth Loss
Losing most or all of your teeth is a serious issue, how does this happen? While minor tooth loss due to cavities, infections, or even injuries is possible, severe tooth loss is often due to periodontitis, the advanced stage of gum disease. When this stage develops, the connective tissues between the gums and teeth deteriorate to cause lost teeth. As teeth go missing, the jawbone weakens to increase the rate of tooth loss. Eventually, you could find yourself missing most or all of your smile!
The Impact of Edentulism
How does losing your teeth impact your smile? Well, you could be severely limited in your meal options and deprived of essential nutrients. Missing teeth could be a source of embarrassment and cause you to avoid social interactions, which impacts quality of life. Losing teeth could also impact how clearly you speak! As we mentioned above, your jawbone can weaken, as the body will no longer send doses of calcium and phosphorus to the jawbone around the lost roots. The area then loses mass and density and gradually erodes, leading to worsening tooth loss and a more prematurely aged appearance. Fortunately, we can not only replace your missing teeth, but do so in a way that stops this loss of mass and density to keep your youthful facial features intact!
Planning Your Dental Implant Placement
First, we will examine your smile to assess the cause of your tooth loss. We may need to offer periodontic care to manage periodontitis and keep your gums healthy, which helps ensure your new teeth can truly last for years to come. Our team will also gently extract the last remaining teeth and then take detailed digital x-rays and CT images of your bite, which we use to choose the most appropriate position, depth, and angle to insert your dental implant posts. When these are inserted into the jaw surgically, the body sees them as natural roots and bonds with them, so they can support new teeth for years to come, decades or possibly a lifetime with proper care and attention.
Attaching Your New Teeth
When the dental implants are inserted into your jawbone, we will then connect abutments and attach the prosthetic, a denture custom-made for your smile. This will be fixed in place and never slip when you eat or speak. You don’t need to remove it for soaking or cleaning either, you have a stable set of new teeth that looks natural and reflects your unique facial structure too!
All-On-Four
With the All-On-Four process, our team can actually complete tooth replacement in only one visit! No need to wait for the implant placement area to heal. Based on detailed images and impressions taken of your bite, we will design and craft a set of new teeth. Made from ceramic, these will be shaded to look natural and be able to handle daily bite forces. We only need to insert four dental implants per arch, instead of the six to eight that traditional implant dentures require. These four posts can then strengthen your jawbone and support the new set of teeth, which we connect in the same sitting as your implant placement. When you leave our office, you do so with a full smile that looks natural and allows you to eat your favorite food and feel confident again.
If you have any questions about how we address advanced tooth loss with our dental implant dentures, or about the same-day All-On-Four process, then please reach out to our team today. We want to help you enjoy optimal oral health and a full smile again. In addition, we can offer periodontic care to address and manage gum disease, even the advanced stages that have started to cause missing teeth.
Schedule an All-On-Four Appointment with Brooklyn Periodontics
We want to offer a complete smile that looks and functions like natural teeth! In fact, we want to provide this in only one visit when possible. For more information on treating total tooth loss, then please call Brooklyn Periodontics & Implantology in Brooklyn, NY at (718) 444-3800 today.
