What Is Osseointegration for Implants?
When it comes to replacing missing teeth, dental implants may be a more recent treatment, but they are one of the most popular ones. Implants rely on small titanium posts, which are surgically placed into the jawbone, to provide support for your replacement teeth. Implants provide numerous benefits, including greater comfort and ease of care. Implants also help to stop bone loss in your jaw. For implants to be successful, however, your jawbone needs to fuse to the posts. At Florida Prosthodontics, we can determine if your jaw is strong enough for this incredible treatment.
The Importance of Your Jawbone for Implants
Dental implant posts are placed into your jawbone. For your implants to be successful, your jawbone needs to fuse to the posts. This process, called osseointegration, is a natural process that occurs gradually. As the bone fuses to the posts, it stabilizes them within your jaw, enabling them to hold your dental restorations securely in place.
The posts also work to restore stimulation to your jawbone, which helps to keep your jawbone strong, stopping and preventing bone loss. Without sufficient bone mass remaining in your jaw, your bone cannot properly fuse to the posts, an issue that can lead to unstable dental restorations and implant failure.
Effects Tooth Loss and Loss of Bone Mass
Your teeth perform many important jobs. One of these jobs is to stimulate your jawbone. This stimulation lets your body know to send essential nutrients required for the health and strength of your jaw. When you suffer tooth loss, stimulation is lost. Your body begins to mistakenly think that fewer nutrients are required, so it sends less. Because of this, your jaw does not get the necessary nutrients. Over time, the bone begins to weaken and lose mass. The weaker your jawbone becomes, the less likely it becomes that implants can be placed.
What if My Jaw is Too Weak?
To get dental implants, an initial consultation is needed. During this consultation, we examine your mouth and take dental X-rays. If your jaw is too weak to support dental implants, this does not mean that implants are impossible. There are still ways that you can receive implants.
One way in which implants can be made possible is with a bone graft. This is a surgical procedure that involves taking bone mass from another area of your body, or from a donor, and transplanting it to the affected areas of your jaw. As you heal from this procedure, your existing bone fuses too, or around, the bone graft, restoring strength to you your jaw.
If you are missing an entire arch of teeth, you may be a candidate for an alternative implant treatment that helps to avoid the need for a bone graft, saving you from an additional surgery and the additional cost. This treatment, known as All on 4, uses only 4 implant posts rather than the typical 6 to 8 used for a regular full arch restoration. The success of this treatment is not in the number of implants but their placement. Strategically placed posts maximize osseointegration, allowing your restorations to be successfully placed without having to undergo additional surgery.
Your jawbone plays a crucial role in the success of dental implants. If you do not have the necessary bone mass to provide support at your initial consultation, a bone graft can restore the strength to your jaw to make them possible. For more information, and to schedule your consultation, call Florida Prosthodontics today at (321) 452-3388.
Merritt Island