How Are Dental Implants Beneficial Over Dentures?
People who have experienced tooth loss will naturally want to know what options are available for replacement teeth, and two of the options they often end up comparing are dental implants and dentures. While both of these methods provide replacements for lost teeth, they’re very different in terms of cost, look, feel, suitability, and more.
Long-Term Costs Offset Upfront Costs
There’s no doubt that right off the bat, dental implants are more expensive than dentures. However, the story doesn’t stop there. For one thing, dentures have to be replaced or relined every few years, whereas implants are permanent and long-term. Moreover, dentures have additional costs associated with them that implants don’t, including adhesives, special cleaners, and more. Finally, if you don’t take proper care of your dentures, then you leave yourself at risk of periodontal disease, and the subsequent treatment for that condition will be an additional cost.
Implants Are More Reliable and Convenient
You cannot permanently affix dentures to your mouth, and this means they can slip or come out when you open your mouth, laugh, talk, or eat the wrong foods. Not only can this be embarrassing, but it can also be uncomfortable. Furthermore, you’ll need to apply fixatives and adhesives to keep the dentures in place and remove them at night for cleaning.
Dental implants, on the other hand, act like natural teeth in every way. They’re permanently attached to your jaw, you can eat the foods you want, they don’t require adhesives to stay in place, they don’t move around when you open your mouth, and you brush them the same way you would natural teeth.
You Can’t Beat the Natural Look and Feel of Implants
After getting dentures, most people need several weeks of practice to get used to talking with them in, and this is because dentures aren’t a permanent part of your mouth the way implants are. As such, dentures can both look and feel fake in your mouth, and this can make you self-conscious about talking, smiling, and otherwise drawing attention to your mouth. Furthermore, dentures can negatively affect your ability to taste and sense temperature, whereas implants look and feel completely natural in every way, and don’t change how food tastes.
Dentures Can Promote Bone Loss
Wearing dentures can help you chew and smile more normally than if you didn’t have teeth, but because they don’t act like natural teeth, they can actually accelerate jaw bone recession. Implants don’t do this, because they mimic the function of your natural teeth.
Dentures and dental implants are both viable options for people with tooth loss who need replacement teeth, but there are many reasons why implants are the preferred option. Along with being a more permanent solution, implants are also a more natural and comfortable solution that can help restore the natural beauty and function of your teeth and smile, without having to concern yourself with removing your teeth for cleaning, applying adhesives, and having your dentures slip.