Whether you have a tooth that’s diseased or has been injured, sometimes a tooth extraction is the best course of treatment. While dentists and oral surgeons always like to preserve your natural tooth if possible, doing so isn’t always in your best interest.
If a tooth extraction is in order, there’s a second oral surgery that you should consider allowing Moore oral surgeons Dr. Perry Brooks or Dr. Seth Brooks perform: dental implants placement. Not only will this tooth replacement system provide you with the tooth functionality you lost when it was surgically extracted, but they’ll also be the most realistic looking “fake” tooth available on the market, and help keep your jawbone tissue strong to avoid oral health complications down the road.
Dental Implants Restore Tooth Functionality After Tooth Extractions
We need our teeth to bite, chew, and eat. But when we need a tooth extraction, part of that functionality is lost in our mouths, because we have at least one missing tooth that can no longer perform those tasks.
While in the past bridges used to be placed to replace a single missing tooth, or dentures were used to replace an entire arch full of missing teeth, these options just aren’t as robust as dental implants. Moore patients are now choosing implants as their tooth replacement system because they are just as strong as natural teeth, meaning once you’ve healed from your surgery, you can chew and bite down on anything you’d like, no matter how chewy or how crunchy it is.
Dental Implants Are More Realistic Looking Than Bridges and Dentures
Most tooth extraction patients want their replacement tooth to look as natural as possible. They don’t want any telltale signs that they’ve had work done. Implants are the best solution to provide that aesthetic.
While dentures can slip and slide mid-meal or mid-sentence, and bridges require your adjacent teeth to be shaved down and crowned, implants only affect the area of the missing tooth. They’re also covered with realistic-looking tooth crowns. As our Moore area oral surgeons, Dr. Perry Brooks and Dr. Seth Brooks often say, the only way someone will know you had an implant placed after a tooth extraction is if you tell them!
Dental Implants Keep Your Jawbone Tissue Strong and Healthy
The natural tooth root of the tooth you’re having extracted does more than keep that tooth in place. It also helps stimulate the growth of your jawbone, so it stays strong and healthy. But when you have a tooth extraction, that stimulation is lost, and your jawbone tissue can shrink, or resorb.
Jawbone tissue shrinkage can lead to a host of problems, including:
- Causing adjacent teeth to shift, become loose, or even fall out
- Making it difficult to place implants without having a bone grafting surgery performed first
- Shrinking your jawbone tissue so much that your facial structure begins to change
The titanium rod of your dental implant does more than hold it in place; it also stimulates your jawbone tissue. Having implants placed after tooth extractions keep your jawbone from shrinking, and help prevent the above complications that come along with the territory of having a shrunken jawbone.
Call Our Practice to Learn More
If you’re interested in learning more about how getting implants after a tooth extraction can assist you with your oral functionality, smile, and overall oral health, our oral surgeons are happy to answer your questions.
Just call our practice near Moore, Oklahoma for an initial consultation today at (405) 329-3500.