Dental implants and dentures are both great options for replacing missing teeth. In the absence of additional health concerns, dental implants are the superior option. Dental implants take longer and are often more costly, but they offer long-term benefits that dentures cannot. 

Why Dental Implants Are Better than Dentures

A dental implant consists of three separate pieces: the post, the abutment, and the crown. The post is drilled directly into your jaw. That may not sound pleasant, but it’s actually the reason dental implants are such a great tooth replacement option.

Bone Health

Every time you chew the pressure you exert is communicated through your jaw bone. Frequent use encourages a process called remodeling. When your jaw remodels itself, it essentially disposes of old or damaged bone tissue and forms new tissue to replace it. 

Remodeling keeps our bones strong. If you lose several teeth in a row and go with another replacement option, you will begin to experience bone loss. The loss of healthy jaw bone may cause your face to sag where the loss is most pronounced

Appearances

In addition to protecting your long-term jaw health, dental implants also look realistic. Your crown can be made from a variety of materials, but ceramic is one of the most common. 

Ceramic crowns mimic the exact look of a natural tooth. Plus they are individually designed to fit your mouth. With a dental implant no one will be able to tell you ever lost a tooth. You might even forget at times.  

Situations Where Dentures May Be Preferred

Dentures can be an excellent solution in specific circumstances when your periodontist in Los Angeles finds that dental implants won’t work well for you. Scenarios that may require dentures over implants include:

• If you have significant bone loss that prevents safely placing the post even with a graft
• If you have health conditions that make it difficult for you to heal
• Or if you have health conditions that make surgery dangerous for you
• If you have reached an advanced age where dental implants aren’t worth the time or risk

If there is any situation where dental implants are more trouble than they’re worth, then dentures will give you exactly what you need. 

Dentures provide the support you need to chew, smile, and talk normally. They can help to hold your facial muscles in the right position if you’ve experienced significant bone loss. Plus, they’re easy to care for and can be made relatively quickly. 

The Downside of Dentures

As long as you’re getting regular adjustments, modern dentures are not likely to fall out or come loose out of nowhere. With that said, they do not offer the same comfort or ease of dental implants. 

You will have to take breaks without them when you get sore. You will have to sleep without them. And you will lose more bone in your jaw as time passes. These are the downsides of dentures.

Additional Alternatives

There are two alternatives that offer a hybrid approach if the options above don’t work for your situation. To have either, you will need to have at least two dental implants, so dentures will be your only option if dental implants are not physically possible. 

Option 1: Dental Bridge

You can support a dental bridge with natural teeth, but that’s usually not a great option. Dental bridges work best when 1 to 3 fake teeth are held in place by two dental implants.

This approach can be substantially more affordable than 3 to 5 dental implants. As an added bonus, the dental implants on either end will protect you from significant bone loss. 

Option 2: Dental Implant Supported Dentures

You can also support dentures with just a few well-placed dental implants. It’s a much more cost-effective option than replacing a whole mouth full of teeth, and it comes with many of the same benefits.

Carefully placed dental implants can be used to lock your dentures into place. You’ll have the security of dental implants and significantly reduced bone loss. With this process you can get teeth in a day in Los Angeles.