Tooth decay and gum disease can lead to serious health problems, including brain or heart infections. Dental care is crucial if you want your smile to remain intact for as long as possible. Dental issues can cause problems along the road, making it difficult to chew food and simply painful to experience.
If your dental issues become serious enough your dentist might recommend you get dental implants. Dental implants are metal rods or frames that are surgically fused to your jawbone underneath your gums. Once healed your dentist can then mount replacement teeth on these frames or rods.
Unlike most dentures, dental implants won’t move around in your mouth, making eating and speaking much easier. Many people find normal dentures extremely uncomfortable and can even lose since they need to be taken out so often. Dental implants are seen as a more extreme solution, but it offers much more security.
So, keep reading to find out more about the five signs that you might need dental implants.
1. Missing Teeth
If you’re missing one or several teeth you’re the perfect candidate for dental implants. Most likely your tooth has been missing for quite some time, so your jawbone and gums have healed completely. This makes a great starting point for dental implants as problematic teeth don’t need to be removed first.
Dental implants will fill the space where the missing tooth was naturally. Once you’ve healed from the surgery you won’t be able to tell which teeth are implants and which are your natural teeth.
Unlike with dentures, you won’t need to deal with the teeth constantly moving around or food getting stuck underneath the dentures. Implants look and feel just like your natural teeth and don’t require dental glue to stay in your mouth.
2. Signs of Infection
Various things can potentially lead to infections. Injuries, poor oral hygiene, disease, etc can all lead to you developing an infection. If the infection isn’t caught and treated in time it can spread to other areas of your body.
Some common symptoms of an infection include:
- Throbbing tooth pain
- Pain in jawbone, neck, or ears
- Fever
- Bad breath that doesn’t go away
- Swelling in the mouth area
- Bad taste in the mouth even after brushing your teeth
- Sensitivity in the mouth area
- Sensitivity to hot or cold foods and beverages
Once the infection starts to spread you can also experience headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. You’ll find that you struggle to swallow due to the swelling.
If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms it’s important to speak to your dentist as soon as possible. Your dentist will assess the situation and determine if you have an infection.
One way to fix the issue would be to get dental implants. Removing the problematic teeth will help you avoid further tooth and health issues, while also relieving pain. It’s important to get rid of the infected teeth as soon as possible, so don’t delay seeking dental care.
3. Dentures That Don’t Fit
Over 19% of the population wears some form of denture. Chances are you, or someone you know, wears dentures and understands how difficult it is to get ones that fit right. You might need to go to various fittings and have various dentures made to find one that doesn’t drive you crazy.
This process can take a lot of time and costs a fortune. Even after all of that effort you still might be left with dentures that move around or feel uncomfortable. When it comes to your teeth you shouldn’t have to settle for the best of a bad bunch.
Dental implants take away all these issues. You don’t need to go through the struggle of ensuring your dentures don’t fall out as implants can’t fall out!
Implants are made and molded to match your other teeth, so chances are the first ones you get will fit perfectly. If you’re unhappy with the fit of one or two teeth your dentist can simply remove the mounted teeth from the frame and have new ones made. Each tooth can be modified until you’re completely satisfied.
4. Jawbone Deterioration
When you’re missing teeth your other teeth and jawbone will start moving around. Since your teeth aren’t resting against each other they might shift, causing pain, discomfort, and even causing problems of their own.
The biggest worry you have when you’re missing teeth is the possibility of your jawbone deteriorating. Dentures won’t fix this issue as they don’t anchor into your jawbone the way implants do. Implants can save your jawbone if it starts to deteriorate.
5. Difficulty Chewing
Difficulty chewing can often lead to you cutting out certain foods from your diet. If it progresses too much you might start suffering from malnutrition as it simply hurts too much to eat.
There are a lot of dental issues that can affect how easy it is to chew and bite food. Missing teeth, damaged teeth, jawbone deterioration, and ill-fitting dentures can all affect your nutritional intake.
Consider Dental Implants in Katy, TX
Dental implants aren’t something to be wary of. Taking care of your dental health includes seeing your local dentist regularly to ensure your teeth and gums are healthy. If your dentist thinks you might benefit from dental implants then you should strongly consider getting it done ASAP.
If you’re looking for a dentist in the Katy, TX area, contact us today. At Katy Gentle Dentists, we care about the total health of our patients, not just their teeth.