Edentulism

There is a certain feeling each of us has when we look into the mirror and feel really confident about our appearance. It "sets the mood" for our day or social function. Simply stated, our personal confidence can dramatically affect our lives.
Unfortunately, missing teeth, medically known as edentulism , keeps many people from "feeling their best". Edentulism not only affects your self confidence, but also has a dramatic impact on the quality of your life.

 

  • Edentulism may limit your choice of foods and therefore your nutrition and general health .
  • Edentulism can make you feel isolated either socially or on the job.
  • Edentulism can affect relationships with loved ones.
  • If not treated, partial edentulism, that is missing some of your teeth, can place stress on the remaining teeth requiring them to "do more work". This can lead to further tooth loss .
  • Edentulism also leads to bone loss making the "fitting' of traditional dentures difficult or impossible.

 

There's another price to pay for edentulism. When teeth are removed, Mother Nature assumes there is no need for the bone that supported the teeth. After all, that is the primary job of your jawbone. Over time the bone slowly, yet progressively diminishes. In fact the upper and lower jawbone gets smaller or shrinks. This process, called resorption , occurs at a more rapid rate if all teeth in the jaw are missing. But, it also occurs when just some of the teeth are missing. If left untreated, the loss of jaw bone can progress so far that a denture will no longer stay in place no matter how much sticky adhesive is used.
For years the best solutions for missing teeth were bridges, removable partial or full dentures. In recent years the treatment of choice are Dental Implants - Tooth Replacement Therapy that mimics NATURE