Preventative dentistry can prevent tooth decay and many treatment procedures. However, accidents can happen at any time. Whether it’s an older person who is hurt falling down the stairs or a teen who gets elbowed in the mouth playing basketball, a dental patient needs to be seen quickly when their mouth is injured. They may be devastated to learn that they are going to lose one or more teeth. However, their emergency dentist will reassure them that Cosmetic Dentistry in Lancaster can restore their beautiful smile.
Dental implants are the most popular treatment for replacing a single tooth. A small titanium screw is inserted into the patient’s jaw bone. It takes about two months for the jaw bone to grow around the implant. After that process is complete, the implant is just as strong as the original tooth root. It is able to anchor a porcelain crown. Once the crown has been attached to the dental implant, the result is a very natural looking tooth. Most people will never guess, that it’s not the person’s original tooth.
Sometimes the damage is so severe that all of a person’s teeth must be extracted. They will be reassured that today’s dentures are much more realistic and comfortable than those that their grandparents might have worn. They also don’t have to wait for their gums to heal before dentures are inserted. This gives them an emotional boost that they won’t have to walk around with no teeth for several weeks. They are fit with a set of immediate dentures. The phrase immediate is used because they are fitted immediately after the teeth are extracted.
Because the gums will change as they heal, immediate dentures will have to be refitted to adjust to them. If the patient feels that their dentures aren’t secure enough to speak or eat in public, the dentist may recommend dental implants to anchor them. Smaller mini implants are screwed into the patient’s jaw. Instead of putting a crown on top, they are fitted with a small metal ball. That ball fits perfectly into slots on the bottom of the dentures. Each morning the denture wearer takes their clean dentures and snaps them securely into place.
