Your teeth are genuinely unique and a body part whose importance is often underestimated. First, they’ve been a part of you for as long as you’ve been you, and maybe even longer!
That’s because the basic structures that become your teeth form about six weeks after conception. Then, around four months before birth, the hard tissues that eventually differentiate into your tooth enamel and underlying dentin grow in. So by the time you’re born, your teeth are fully formed and ready to emerge when the time is right.
You’d be hard pressed to name another thing you’ve carried with you since early childhood. So the evidence is clear; your teeth were meant to last a lifetime. It’s a shame that most of the time, not all of them will make it to the curtain call.
Tooth Loss Is Nearly Universal
Each of us is born with 28 teeth, excluding our third molars or ‘wisdom teeth.’ But of the original cast, statistics show that, on average, at least one tooth has been lost by age 35 and six by age 50. Additionally, as we age beyond 50, the percentage of Americans without any natural teeth becomes one out of twenty. The good news is that in 2004, that figure was double, or one out of ten.
So while dental progress has been made, the data still confirms that it’s not unusual to have a missing tooth or even a few, nor is it any reason to feel ashamed. This is the philosophy shared by the team at Sandpiper Dental; missing teeth happen, and our job is to help you decide how best to replace them.
What Is a Dental Implant?
You have options when it comes to replacing lost teeth, more now than ever before. However, many people agree that the most effective replacement of any structure is the one that resembles the original most closely. This is where the ideal candidate, developed through modern technology and refined by highly skilled dentists like Sandpiper’s Dr. Kim Doan, takes the stage: the dental implant.
We can describe a dental or tooth implant as a titanium screw that mimics your natural tooth’s root, especially in how it functions. Your tooth root anchors it to your jawbone, lending enough strength to endure the stress exerted by years of chewing. When you get a dental implant, you receive an artificial root that we have surgically placed into your jaw. After several weeks, your jaw bone heals around the implant, integrating it as permanently as possible.
Dental Implants for Single Tooth Replacements
Among the most common uses for dental implants are to replace one missing tooth. After your artificial root finishes healing, your dentist will fit a special attachment known as an implant abutment. This portion acts as a connector for the upper part of your dental implant. For a single tooth replacement, we finish your tooth implant with a dental crown.
At Sandpiper Dental, we provide another leading-edge compliment to create a dental crown in our office during the same visit. This process, known as CEREC, allows us to skip the messy dental impressions traditionally used to create dental crowns. Instead, we use CAD/CAM technology to take digital impressions, which we then pass to special design software so that your new crown will match your natural teeth as much as possible.
Then, we send your final crown design to a special milling machine that sculpts the finished restoration from a block of high-quality ceramic. After finishing and polishing, we attach your new crown to the implant abutment, and your dental implant is complete.
Implant-Supported Full and Partial Dentures
To help our older patients who have experienced numerous or full tooth losses, our dental team can provide a denture secured to a small number of dental implants. These implant-supported appliances combine the security of an artificial tooth root with the flexibility of a denture.
This versatility has made implant dentures popular among those who need a denture but wish to avoid the slipping and chafing common among conventional dentures. But when we place two or more implants in your jaw, we can customize a beautiful complete denture that is as stable as natural teeth.
Dental Implant Dentist in Jacksonville, FL
At Sandpiper Dental, we are experts in providing for all your dental implant needs! Dr. Doan is an expert at dental implant planning, surgical placement, and production of the final restoration. In addition, we can use our CEREC crown process to create a tooth crown, a partial denture, or even a full denture, in many cases, while you wait without any extra visits.
Our team of dental professionals wants you to know that you have many options when replacing lost teeth. So we encourage you to give us a call today and learn how dental implants might be right for you.