I have been wearing dentures for a bit over 30 years and have never liked my smile. My teeth have always looked fake. Is there a way to get a pretty smile with dental implants or is it too late for me?
Karen
Dear Karen,
The overall answer to this question, is yes, you can get a beautiful smile with dental implants even after 30 years of wearing dentures. In that amount of time, you will have lost quite a bit of the bond structure in your jaw. This is because your body began to resorb the minerals in your jawbone to use elsewhere as soon as your teeth were removed. In that amount of time you have been with dentures, I expect you are having a difficult time keeping them in place.
Because of this, you will need an additional procedure, known as bone grafting, in order to have enough bone structure to securely retain dental implants. Once that is done and you have had time to heal, you can get the implants placed. While some dentists do both the surgery and implant crown, others will send you to an oral surgeon. If you are going to an oral surgeon, it is imperative you see the dentist first and that the dentist is the one who plans the implant placement, not the other way around.
When you are talking about replacing all your teeth, it is too cost prohibitive to place a dental implant for each missing tooth. Instead, you will place between four to eight dental implants per arch and anchor dentures to them. These are called implant supported dentures. You mentioned your current dentures look fake. It doesn’t have to be that way. You simply need to find an artistic cosmetic dentist who uses quality materials that will not wear down quickly.
The image directly above, with a man and a woman, shows how lovely and natural dentures can look. The gentleman wanted a more subdued, natural looking smile, while the woman wanted a bright, white, young looking smile. Both have implant supported dentures.
Be certain to research the artistic skills of whatever dentist you are thinking to have do this. Look at their smile gallery to see the before and after images of actual cases they have done.
This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. Weaver.
