Can You Have Dental Implants As You Age?

Everyone deserves to enjoy good oral health at all stages of their life. Unfortunately, nearly 40 percent of the population has lost at least one tooth before 35, and 74 percent of adults have lost all their teeth. Loss of teeth, besides affecting the quality of life, also impacts oral health and overall well-being. Dental implants are long considered a superior treatment option for missing teeth than dentures. Dental implants are anchored securely into the jawbone to preserve jawbone density. If you have missing teeth and are unsatisfied with your dentures, you can discuss getting dental implants with the surgical dentist near me.

Getting Dental Implants As You Age

No upper age thresholds at when you cannot get dental implants are specified by the dental fraternity. In reality, this is one treatment solution where are your age and jawbone growth determines your suitability for the treatment and not your age. Many people have undergone the dental implant procedure well past their 80s.

Candidature for dental implant placements is determined on a case-by-case basis. Your oral, physical, and overall health decide whether or not you can have dental to replace your missing teeth or need alternatives to compensate for tooth loss.

Risk Factors in the Elderly

If you are over 60 and have lost your teeth for quite some time, you may also have suffered jawbone deterioration, a natural occurrence with tooth loss. In such cases, you require bone graft surgery to augment the lost bone in your mouth before you have dental implants. Thankfully latest advances in dentistry now make available technology to the strategically available bone by placing implants at strategic locations.

As an adult, if you are prone to underlying medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis, have a history of medical procedures and anesthesia, regularly take medications or supplements, and are a smoker, you might be at risk of implant failure. Dental implants in Queen Creek comprehensively evaluate your mouth and overall health to determine your suitability for the dental implant procedure and recommend it only if you satisfy all applicable criteria.

Dental implants, after insertion into the jawbone, become part of your body when they integrate with it. The artificial tooth roots dental implants deliver require minimal attention, like caring for your teeth and gums appropriately and visiting dentists for appointments regularly. Besides, the above dental implants appear and function like your natural teeth allowing you to perform all the earlier activities without encountering challenges.

Benefits of Dental Implants

If you are in optimal oral and overall health and are considered suitable for dental implant surgery, you benefit by having natural-looking artificial teeth to replace your lost teeth.

When undergoing the dental implant procedure, the Queen Creek dentist embeds titanium posts deep into the jawbone to function as your artificial tooth roots and recommends they be allowed to integrate with your jawbone over several months. Dentists might provide you with a temporary crown over the implant immediately after dental implant placement. However, the temporary crown needs replacements after you have recovered from the surgical procedure.

Alternatives for dental implants are also available with dentures and dental bridges. However, both options do not provide the stability of dental implants or remain with you for a lifetime. Implants require three to six months to osseointegrate with your jawbone before you can have a permanent dental crown placed over the titanium post to function like your natural tooth. The dental implant process is undoubtedly lengthy and can make you wonder whether you have chosen correctly to get artificial teeth using this procedure. Dentures need replacements every five to seven years, while bridges can last for just over a decade. Therefore you must decide whether you want a replacement solution that needs replacements over time or would like to have a solution that remains with you throughout your life.

Age Limits for Getting Dental Implants

Many people in their prime are considered unsuitable for dental implants because they are too young and do not have complete jawbone development. Patients younger than 17 are deemed ineligible for dental implants. At the same time, the elderly with good physical and overall health can receive dental implants so long as they are not affected by any conditions that might hamper their recovery from the surgery.

If you think you are over the age limit and cannot get dental implants, we suggest you not worry about the situation but consider getting yourself evaluated by the Queen Creek dentist to determine whether they can place dental implants in your mouth even if other practices have rejected your candidature. Using state-of-the-art technology, this practice may successfully provide you dental implants with the beautiful smile you lost with your natural teeth.

If you need dental implants and believe you are over the age, we suggest you pay a visit to Alexander Family Dental to receive your natural-looking artificial teeth with dental implants as replacements.