How closely do dental implants resemble a natural tooth?
Dental implants are the only structurally complete tooth replacement devices available today. After the titanium cylinder is inserted in the jaw, the surrounding bone fuses with it, creating a root-like structure to support a prosthetic crown. This is quite similar to the relationship between the root and crown of a biological tooth. Older methods, such as dentures and dental bridges, only restore the absent crown, not the missing root. Yet, that root structure plays a pivotal part in the smile’s overall stability. Therefore, a patient who receives dental implants from an oral surgeon gains a number of benefits from the intervention. Dental implants help to anchor the jawbone and prevent its atrophy following tooth loss. This helps to maintain the fit of the prosthetic appliance as well as protecting the surrounding teeth from the effects of jawbone erosion in the vicinity. Furthermore, dental implants preserve more of the functionality of…