Types Of Dental Implants
When you lose teeth your smile changes. Sometimes you do not want to smile with an open mouth because it would show your missing teeth. Depending on how many teeth you lose, the shape of your face around your jaw will change. Whether it is only your smile changing or your jawline changing, you may want to look into dental implants.
There are two main types of dental implants: endosteal and subperiosteal. Endosteal dental implants involve putting screw like implants directly into the jawbone. Subperiosteal dental implants placed on or above the jawbone and under the gums.
Endosteal dental implants are the most commonly used type. This typically involves putting a screw-like implant, usually made of titanium, directly into the jawbone. The screw-like object, once implanted into the jawbone, will have a fake tooth screwed on top of it to match the teeth you still have.
If you do not have enough jawbone to do endosteal dental implants, you will have to do subperiosteal implants. Subperiosteal dental implants are used when you do not have enough jawbone and do not want to do any type of bone augmentation to do the endosteal implants. When you do subperiosteal the implants will go under your gums but be either on or just above what jawbone you have. This type of implant is still as good as endosteal implants.
When you do not have enough jawbone or a healthy jawbone but still want to have dental implants, there are three things which can be done to help you. To help fix or repair your jawbone to help support any type of implanted teeth, there are three things an oral surgeon can do: bone augmentation, sinus augmentation, and ridge expansion. Bone augmentation rebuilds the bone in your jawbone. Sinus augmentation, also known as a sinus lift, involves adding bone right below the sinus cavity. A ridge expansion is adding bone to the top of your jawbone when your jaw is not wide enough to support any type of dental implant.
If teeth are left missing, the teeth and jaw can change over time. Having a dental implant as soon as possible would greatly decrease the chances of the jaw and teeth moving over time.