A beautiful smile enhances your overall appearance. It gives you charisma, self-confidence and presence. The condition of your teeth can impact your overall health because your ability to chew helps to determine your food choices. The condition of your teeth also affects your speech and your comfort in talking with others. Healthy, attractive teeth can contribute to a better quality of life.

Teeth are lost for many reasons, such as cavities, gum disease, cracked roots and accidents. When a tooth is lost, the bone that surrounds the tooth root deteriorates, or melts away. (It's similar to losing muscle when you don't work out.) That is why missing teeth can compromise your eating habits, speech and appearance.

Complete tooth loss may result in collapse of the bone structure supporting the lower third of your face as your jaws deteriorate over time. This can lead to the collapse of the lower third of your face and the appearance of premature aging of the face.

Ideally tooth replacement should preserve the shape of your face and be as close as possible to your natural teeth in both function and appearance. Unfortunately, traditional methods of tooth replacement, such as dentures, do not preserve bone or the shape of your face.

Traditional methods of complete tooth replacement have many disadvantages. Removable complete dentures may accelerate bone deterioration. As the bone disappears, the complete denture no longer fits, which can impair your quality of life. Complete dentures may result in difficulty in chewing due to poor stability, the need for denture adhesives, and pain from poor fitting dentures. In extreme cases, people who wear ill-fitting complete dentures may avoid social contact, have unhealthy diets and suffer from painful sores in their mouth.

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Today, dental implant treatment is the preferred method of tooth replacement. Dental implants can replace missing tooth roots, helping to preserve the bone in the jaws and the original shape of the face. Patients may decide to use implants to completely support a fixed bridge or utilized them to aid in the support of an overdenture. Dental implants can eliminate the pain of ill-fitting dentures and the need for adhesives. They form a stable foundation for replacement teeth that look, feel and function like you natural teeth.

Portions of the above information provided as a courtesy by:

The Straumann Company
Reservoir Place
1601 Trapelo Road
Waltham, MA 02451