In the world of dentistry, there are specialties dedicated to specific types of oral health issues. For instance, a prosthodontist specializes in the art of replacing lost teeth with highly-lifelike prosthetics. Given the intricacies of your teeth and the need to replace the ones you lose, a prosthodontist may be your best option at rebuilding your smile and improving your overall quality of life.
Why Replacing a Tooth Matters
When teeth go missing, it’s not just the loss that matters, but the consequences to the rest of your healthy, natural teeth. Besides your smile’s appearance, tooth loss can affect your dentition by causing remaining teeth to shift out balance. It can also affect your long-term oral health by leading to jawbone degradation (without teeth roots, your jawbone loses density over time).
A prosthodontist understands these consequences intricately, and is well-versed in not only improving your smile’s appearance but also preserving your long-term oral health. To that end, your prosthodontic specialist may recommend one or a series of dental implants, which can offer the most comprehensive tooth replacement benefits.
Why Most People Can Benefit from Dental Implants
Dental implants are a relatively recent addition to prosthetic dentistry, having grown exponentially in popularity over the last several decades. Implants are small, biocompatible posts that can be surgically inserted into the jawbone in place of lost teeth roots. The posts become a part of your jawbone as the bone heals around them, and can be used to support a dental crown, bridge, partial denture, or complete denture, depending on how many teeth you need to replace.