Do Dental Implants Affect the Adjacent Teeth?

Posted on: 28 January 2020

A dental implant mimics your natural teeth in every way, including how it sits in your jaw. However, because dental implants aren't natural, you might worry about how they will affect your natural teeth. Dental implants do affect your adjacent teeth, but they do so in a positive manner. But first, you should know how a missing tooth affects your adjacent teeth.

Missing Teeth Cause Multiple Issues

Missing teeth only affect adjacent teeth in a negative way. For instance, upon losing a tooth, the bone around the socket begins to break down. This not only shrinks your jaw, changing your facial structure, but it also weakens the bone supporting adjacent teeth. Moreover, your natural teeth tend to lean into the spaces left behind by extracted teeth. This leaves your smile crooked.

In the case of dental implants, however, the effects are positive.

Dental Implants Encourage Bone Growth

Titanium is compatible with the human body, which is why doctors use it to create replacement hips and knees. When a dentist inserts the titanium post into your jawbone, the bone around the implant begins to grow new cells that help to securely anchor the implant. After several months, there should be enough bone for you to begin to use your dental implant with a crown.

But how does this affect adjacent teeth? Since dental implants stimulate jawbone growth, adjacent teeth will benefit too. The added bone around the implant will keep your jawbone strong and sturdy and stop bone loss from spreading to your adjacent teeth.

Dental Implants Prevent Crowding

An extraction socket left without a tooth will cause the adjacent teeth to lean into the open space. Although this movement doesn't happen straight away, but rather over a span of months, the gradual shift will change your bite. Not only will this change the way your teeth come together, but it will also cause your teeth to become misaligned. As a result, tooth erosion will accelerate.

But dental implants act just like natural teeth, even as far as your body is concerned. With a dental implant in place of the extracted tooth, your adjacent teeth won't shift at all. Your bite will remain the same as it was before the placement of the dental implant.

Dental implants have a positive effect on your adjacent teeth. If you want to conserve your remaining teeth for as long as possible, consider replacing lost teeth with dental implants.

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