Dental Implants and Aging: Why They’re a Great Option for Seniors?

Aging opens up a new set of challenges before you with aches, pains in your body, and other problems. For example, if you confront tooth loss because of your age, you may have inquiries about which replacement option is ideal for your needs. While you may have information about dentures or other solutions, you may want a stable replacement to avoid facing several challenges with artificial teeth.

As an elderly with concerns about tooth replacement solutions, we can confirm that dental implants are viable and sustainable at your age. Implants enhance the lives of the elderly to give them better reliance and physical well-being. Therefore, if you want replacements for your missing teeth, consider dental implants near you, and discuss your needs with a dental professional who can guide you on how dental implants are excellent for your age.

The Functioning of Dental Implants

Dental implants are titanium posts shaped like screws to function as your missing tooth roots. The dentist near you inserts the titanium post in your jawbone, which adjoins your natural root to help build a stable base to support artificial teeth. After embedding the dental implant, you must go through the healing process when the titanium post osseointegrates with your jawbone.

After healing, the dentist attaches an abutment over the dental implant to hold your artificial tooth. Dental crowns are customized to match your mouth’s remaining teeth. Dental implant surgery is comfortable and the easiest for seniors to help them regain their chewing abilities and the natural appearance of their mouths.

Why Are Dental Implants Essential for Seniors?

When you opt for dental implants, you avail many benefits. If you are still deciding whether to get one, learn why dental implants are necessary for seniors.

• Cost-Effective: Compared to other replacement options like dentures, dental implants are cost-effective because they are easy to maintain and resist breakage. In addition, cost-wise dental implants offer sustainable benefits, making them affordable, although they require a higher upfront investment.
• Improve Biting and Chewing: Seniors face challenges biting and chewing foods because of missing or weak teeth. When dental implants restore missing teeth, they help seniors eat without concerns about toothaches or discomfort. Dental implants, while improving biting and chewing abilities, also improve digestion.
• Elevated Self-Confidence: When the elderly have their favorite foods without encountering challenges, they tend to feel healthier and better about themselves. Furthermore, implants help provide a natural-looking smile making them feel confident and offering a better quality of life.
• Improved Oral Health: Dental Implants in St Cloud, MN, do not alter the adjacent teeth for support, leaving them intact, which is significant for the elderly. In addition, individual implants enable easy access between teeth to improve overall dental hygiene.

Dental Implant Benefits and Downsides for Seniors

Benefits

• Natural Appearance: Dental implants appear and feel like natural teeth. After implants are embedded in the senior’s jaw, they will barely notice the difference between a natural tooth and a replacement. In addition, implanted teeth remain indistinguishable, allowing seniors to talk and eat as usual without confronting challenges.
• Long-Lasting Replacement: Dental implants are sustainable replacement options for everyone. Seniors benefit because they will not require changing the crowns for over a decade with minimal maintenance. In addition, appropriate dental hygiene practices and regular checkups with their dentist will increase the longevity of the implanted teeth by several years.
• Implants Prevent Jawbone Resorption: the artificial tooth roots encourage the strengthening of the jawbone, which begins to disintegrate when seniors lose teeth. Implants ensure jawbone resorption doesn’t occur because they receive stimulation from the biting and chewing forces.

Downsides

• Treatment Time: the overall treatment time involves many phases, and the implants require approximately six months to integrate with the jawbone. Therefore it might become a demanding process for seniors considering immediate care.
• Infections: although complications with dental implants are rare, infections of the gums after implant placement can occur. Dental implant problems may arise if seniors allow the periodontal disease to affect them without maintaining appropriate dental hygiene. Periodontal disease can result in implant failure.
• Involves Additional Procedures: dental implants for the elderly may require additional treatments in some situations. Some patients may not have adequate bone to sustain the titanium post, so bone grafting or sinus lifts are necessary to lengthen the treatment time and the costs.

Getting dental implants is a long-term solution for the elderly that lasts forever. However, it is best to retain natural teeth as long as possible if they are healthy. Unfortunately, if infected teeth need extraction and replacement with an implant, the elderly and consider getting them by understanding why they are excellent for their needs.

If you, as a senior, with missing teeth, need a stable replacement option lasting forever, Smile City provides dental implants to satisfy your needs and improve your quality of life. Contact them as soon as possible to plan your treatment and receive artificial teeth looking and feel natural in approximately six months or more, depending on your unique situation.