Dental implants offer a huge number of advantages over wearing traditional dentures, or simply putting up with a gap where your natural tooth, or teeth, used to be. They can benefit your dental health, your general health and sense of well-being, as well as give you the confidence to smile again, so if you live in York and you’re considering dental implant treatment at our York practice, please have a look at our helpful overview of the advantages and disadvantages of dental implants.

Implants are permanent replacement teeth, which are placed in your jaw by our experienced dental implantologist with a view to fusing them to your bone. We use local anaesthetic at our York practice, so you’re comfortable during the procedure and once your jaw has healed, we add a natural looking crown to the top of the implant. It will not be obvious that your implant isn’t an actual tooth, but it will provide you with the same advantages as your original teeth. Here is what dental implants can do for you:

The advantages of dental implants

• Prevent your remaining teeth from shifting in your mouth, an action which often occurs when there is a gap to fill. Natural teeth which shift from an attractive alignment to sit crookedly in the mouth not only look unattractive, but also create tooth surfaces that are hard to reach with your toothbrush. It’s easier to keep straighter teeth clean.
• Prevent atrophy in the jawbone; a process which may occur when a tooth is lost. A dental implant will not cause premature ageing of the mouth and lips areas, as traditional dentures can do. As the implant occupies the same space as a natural tooth does, you’re less likely to experience a deterioration of the muscles around the mouth.
• Dental implants are comfortable to wear, once you’ve got used to the feeling of them in your mouth. They’re permanent, so you don’t have to remember to take them out, or put them in, and they will require no effort on your part to hold them in place. With traditional dentures, you will probably need to train your tongue and cheek to hold them in place.
• Dental implants are very discreet. They look like natural teeth, they won’t move about in your mouth, or occasionally fall out like traditional dentures and there will be no annoying click noises.
• You will be able to use your implants to eat a varied diet with ease, speak clearly and smile confidently without feeling embarrassed about revealing you have teeth missing.
• They’re easy to look after because you simply brush them in the same as you brush the rest of your teeth and if well looked after, they last for over 40 years!

The disadvantages of dental implants

The disadvantages of dental implants are all associated with the procedure. Once they have settled into your mouth, you should experience no further problems.

• There are risks associated with the procedure, just as they are for any sort of invasive treatment. Our implantologist will brief you fully on all potential risks as well as the steps taken to avoid complications.
• There will be some gum tenderness while your mouth heals and initially while you get used to the implants and your gums are tender, you’ll need to stick to softer foods.

• There will be a delay between having an implant placed and your permanent crown fitted. This may seem inconvenient, but it’s because it takes awhile for bone integration to occur and your dental surgeon wants to make sure the whole process goes as smoothly as possible.
• Dental implants are not cheap but our dental finance plan makes them very affordable.

Don’t settle for an inconvenient tooth replacement option when you can get the next best thing to a natural tooth fitted permanently into your mouth. Give us a call or get in touch via our contact form to book your consultation in York with our implant expert and we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the process and the results.