The team at Porter Dental Health Clinic are no strangers to seeing patients with a missing tooth, but it never ceases to amaze them how long some people will wait to take care of the problem. Dental implants have benefits that go well beyond just the obvious aesthetic ones, which is why it is a good idea to get that gap filled sooner rather than later.
It Improves Your Overall Health
Since healthy teeth play a big role in keeping the jawbone strong, people with missing teeth will notice the health of that bone start to deteriorate. Fortunately, dental implants do a great job of simulating a real tooth, so the sooner you attach one, the better off your jaw will be.
A Dental Implant Is a Process
Some patients put off coming in for an implant under the assumption that they can get a new tooth on demand. Unfortunately, that’s not how dental implants work. For the first procedure, an oral surgeon inserts the implant, but then the patient must wait several months to allow for his or her gums to heal and the implant to properly integrate in the bone.
In most cases, you can wear a temporary prosthesis to avoid having a space during the wait, but only after a period of months will you receive your new tooth. Be sure to factor in this necessary downtime before delaying getting an implant.
Why Not Start Forever Now?
A lot of cosmetic dentistry options will last a decade or two, but in most cases a dental implant could successfully stay in place for the rest of your life. In that sense, there is no point in delaying getting something you could get to keep forever anyway.
Contact the Doctor
Since there is really no point in waiting, now is the perfect time to schedule an appointment with Dr. Lance Porter or Dr. Will Warren to fix that missing tooth ASAP!
