While most people understand that one or more missing teeth can negatively impact how their appearance, few realize how significant the change can be. When you lose a tooth, you may also see changes to your entire facial structure due to a process that is known as resorption.What is Resorption? Your bones need calcium, which is a precious resource. If your body believes that your jawbone is no longer performing its assigned duty, it will leach calcium from your jaw to use elsewhere in the body. This process of resorption occurs after tooth loss because the tooth was providing constant stimulation to the bone. Without that constant stimulation, the body believes that the jawbone has lost its usefulness.
As the density of your jawbone deteriorates, the bone can shrink in size. This is what gives some older people a ‘sunken’ appearance. Aside from the natural aging of the skin, the jawbone can make the most significant impact on how you look as you age. Keeping it strong and intact is critical for your appearance and mini dental implants can help with this after you’ve lost one or more teeth.
From the perspective of your jawbone, the implant provides the stimulation that is necessary to indicate the jaws’ usefulness, effectively stopping the process of resorption. Your facial appearance is preserved, since they are fixed to your jawbone, and your dental structure is restored, preventing the facial collapse due to bone loss.
The mini dental implant procedure is a much less involved process than conventional dental implants. The procedure can usually be completed in one simple appointment. In addition to saving time in the dental office, you’ll experience far less discomfort following this procedure due to its minimally involved nature, which usually requires no surgical flaps or sutures. Because the procedure is so time efficient, mini dental implants are a fraction of the cost normally associated with larger conventional implants. Mini dental implants are also more comfortable while requiring less healing time and fewer followup visits.