Losing teeth can be very distressing. If you’ve had an accident, you can suddenly find yourself in shock and looking at decades of replacement teeth. If you’ve been watching teeth fail for some time, either through decay, wear and tear or gum disease, it can still be surprisingly upsetting when they finally go.

Whichever way you have lost teeth, the question now is: how are you going to replace them? Teeth need to be able to work well and look good. Eating is important and smiling with confidence is equally so.

At Leamington Spa Dental Practice in Leamington Spa, the majority of our patients’ first choice for replacement teeth is dental implants. Dental implants mimic natural teeth more closely than either dentures or fixed bridgework because they replace the whole tooth, including the root.

Having crowns with no roots means having to find alternative ways to get the stability that teeth need in order to be able to chew. Dentures rely on adhering to the gums and bridges on being fixed to remaining healthy teeth.

Neither does as good a job as dental implants, which are inserted into the jawbone where they fuse with the bone tissue. Once this fusion process has taken place, the implants are as stable as natural teeth and can last for at least 15 years. If you take good care of your implants, making sure to avoid gum disease, which can loosen them and make them fall out, then you could have them for decades. Although the porcelain crowns may need to be replaced.

You don’t have to have an implant to replace every single tooth you lose. One implant post can support up to 3 teeth on a bridge. There are even techniques to replace entire arches of teeth on just 4-6 implants.

Getting started

The step towards implants involves a thorough consultation, where we look closely at your jawbone to make sure it can support dental implants. If it has deteriorated, we can augment the bone with grafts or sinus lifts.

Want to find out more? How about an exploratory chat to see if dental implants could be right for you?