Dental Trends of the Future: Leaving the Past Behind

If you need to replace missing teeth in your mouth, it's important that you're well informed so that you make the best possible decision on which dental technique you want to choose. 

Unfortunately, a lot of patients overlook the possibility of taking advantage of dental implants because they make incorrect assumptions about this tooth replacement option.

The following are six incorrect assumptions frequently made about dental implant treatments that you should be aware of so you can make the best choice for your dental health.

There is a lot of pain involved with the dental implant surgery procedure

While it's true that there may be some discomfort involved with the dental implant procedure, most patients only need nitrous sedation during the procedure along with local anesthesia.

Modern techniques have made it surprisingly fast and minimally invasive to put dental implants in place. Also, dental implant patients can be prescribed pain killers to cope with any lingering discomfort after the procedure until they have healed up fully.

A lot of patients experience dental implant failure

A very small percentage of patients may experience issues adjusting to dental implants. However, dental implants have a high success rate overall.

Only about five percent of dental implant procedures result in failure overall. Experienced dentists who perform the dental implant procedure know how to weed out candidates with low bone density who may be susceptible to failure. 

If your dentist tells you that you are a good candidate for implants, your mouth and jaw will likely have no problem adjusting to the procedure.

Dental implants are very expensive in comparison to other tooth replacement options

While dental implants might cost more than dentures or bridges initially, they also tend to last longer. Dentures and bridges will require repeated work down the road that will cause the costs of other tooth replacement techniques to add up over time.

It's only possible to have dental implants if you're an elderly patient

Patients of all ages can take advantage of the convenience and natural look of dental implants. Once a patient's mouth is fully mature, dental implants are a tooth replacement possibility. This makes them an appropriate tooth replacement solution for some patients who are as young as 17 years old. 

There are a lot of special care and maintenance procedures patients will need to keep up with after dental implant surgery

Once the mouth has completely healed from dental implant surgery, patients take care of dental implants just like they took care of their natural teeth.

Patients will need to take a lot of time off to recover after dental implant surgery

Patients may need to take it easy and watch their diet for a few days or weeks after the procedure. However, their teeth should be functioning like normal teeth within only a few short months of the procedure. Also, patients can generally resume their work responsibilities immediately after the procedure.