Tooth replacement – the most natural way (Dental Implants)

It has been a while since I have written a blog on Dental Implants and tooth replacements. I feel it is appropriate to do so now, especially since I have just come back for the ITI World Symposium on Implantology.

Missing teeth – the dilemma

Missing teeth creates many issues for our patients. The main problems are loss of confidence in your smile, loss of chewing ability and speech issues. We also know that losing many teeth can result in collapse of facial support – resulting in increased sagging of the face and the signs of heavy ageing. It is safe to say that nobody wants to lose their teeth.

Replacing teeth with dental implants – an option for everyone?

We know from studies of our patients and research, that missing teeth cause many problems. We also know that Dental implants are the closest tooth replacement to real teeth that we have at the moment. This fixed solution will improve appearance, function and quality of life. The benefits are significant and applies to patients of all age groups. Young patients as well as older patients may lose their teeth and the option to have dental implants is available to all of our patients regardless of age. The most important factor is your general health, we would assess this prior to any treatment.

A recent dental implant case

David, is 29 years old and presented to our clinic with a missing upper lateral incisor. He lost this tooth due to trauma and had been wearing a resin bonded bridge. David stated that he didn’t like the ‘artificial’ feeling of the bridge and that the bridge ‘came off’ whenever he chewed into anything hard. He wanted a replacement tooth that was fixed permanently and functioned like a real tooth.

Following treatment to replace this tooth, David was relieved to have his normal appearance back again. It is fantastic for him to be able to eat and live his life with the confidence that his tooth won’t fall out.

David continues to attend the clinic for his routine 6-monthly dental examinations and hygiene sessions. His dental health is very good and we aim to ensure everything stays healthy in the long term by enrolling him onto our maintenance programme.

This is a successful outcome which has made a big difference to David.

We enjoy providing dental implants to our patients because we know this is the best tooth replacement available. It improves our patient’s lives significantly.

We also know that there is a huge amount of research being undertaken in cell biology to be able to grow real teeth to be implanted. Now this is a very exciting development which could transform dentistry and medicine. Can you imagine providing a new kidney to a patient with kidney failure? Or a real new tooth to a patient with missing teeth? It may take years or decades or even longer before we get there and we will be very excited to follow this development along the way.

Thank you for reading

Mohsin Patel BDS MJDF RCS (Eng)