While healthy natural teeth are always best, dental implants offer several unique benefits that can make them slightly more resistant to damage than your real pearly whites. This is because these incredible prosthetic appliances are made from durable materials such as ceramics, porcelain, and titanium, and they have allowed countless patients to enjoy superior chewing power after tooth loss. Here’s a brief guide to a few advantages that make dental implants so remarkable.
Dental Implants Are More Stain Resistant than Natural Enamel
Your dental enamel is the strongest naturally occurring substance in your body, but it is porous and can develop unsightly stains and discoloration after years of frequent exposure to richly colored items like coffee, tea, red wine, berries, sauces, and candy. Dental implants, on the other hand, are made from durable nonporous ceramic materials such as porcelain that resist stains more easily than dental enamel.
While frequent exposure to pigments and dyes can still cause stains to form in the restorations mounted on your implants, this will happen much more slowly than with natural teeth and can be considerably reduced with excellent oral hygiene.
Dental Implants Are Immune to Cavities
Tooth decay such as cavities is one of the most common health problems in the world and a frequent cause of tooth loss. These nasty oral infections are the result of accumulations of harmful oral bacteria that eat sugar and excrete enamel-destroying acid. Thankfully, the restorations mounted on dental implants are made from ceramic materials that are indigestible to bacteria, which means that they will never develop cavities.
While dental implants are immune to cavities, they can still fail due to infections of the gum tissue supporting them. To prevent this, it is essential to brush and floss every day while using antibacterial mouthwash regularly. It’s equally important to see your dentist regularly for checkups so they can detect and address infections in their early stages.
Dental implants are incredibly strong and beautifully replicate the appearance and function of real teeth. With excellent care, your appliances may last for several decades or even a lifetime.
About the Author
Dr. Erin M. Prach earned her dental degree at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine and has been designated as a qualified dentist by the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. She is proud to be a member of the American Dental Association and the Wyoming Dental Association. Her office in Casper offers general, restorative, cosmetic, and emergency dentistry as well as dental implant services. To schedule your dental implant consultation, contact her office online or dial (307) 337-4770.