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Top Reasons Why You Should Avoid Dental Implant Delays

Aug 19, 2022
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A look at how dental implant delays can affect your oral health. Your jawbone may deteriorate, and you may be at risk of dental infections.

Let's be honest. Most people don't like visiting the dentist and will delay any kind of treatment, including dental implants. There are two principal reasons for this. Fear about the process and the cost of the treatment. However, a dental implant delay not only puts off the opportunity to have your smile fixed but it can cause dental problems to worsen. 

If you need dental implants, you should get them as soon as possible. Here are the top reasons why you shouldn't delay.

To Protect Your Jawbone

This is the most crucial reason to avoid a delay. Missing teeth may cause your jawbone to deteriorate. Every time you bite down on something and chew it, you are stimulating the jawbone and keeping the soft tissue around it healthy. However, when there are gaps, it begins to recede. If the dental implant delay is long enough, you may need a bone graft to replace the missing bone before you get your replacement teeth. This is an expensive procedure. Dental implants replace the missing roots and give your jaw the necessary stimulation to prevent bone loss.

To Stop Your Teeth From Shifting

Teeth shifting is a common phenomenon when there are gaps. Teeth on either side may move toward each other in the space left by the extracted or missing tooth. The movement can create further undesirable oral health problems that will take time and money to fix later on. You may develop a bad bite, and your teeth will be more challenging to clean.

Misaligned teeth (malocclusion) can cause a host of issues such as:

  • Speech problems
  • Uneven tooth wear
  • Gum disease owing to difficulty maintaining oral hygiene 
  • Enamel damage
  • Tooth decay
  • Difficulty chewing or biting food
  • Speech problems

Other complications associated with shifting teeth include bone loss, gum recession and root exposure. Get a dental implant now and keep these problems at bay.

To Prevent Changes To Your Face

Gaps don’t only create problems for your jawbone and other teeth. Jaw deterioration and tooth movement can cause structural changes to your face, such as hollow cheeks and wrinkles forming around your mouth. If you don't replace your missing teeth in good time, you could start looking a lot older than your years.

To Avoid Infections

If you have untreated broken teeth, exposed dentin and pulp can become easily infected from exposure to bacteria. Serious infection can also reach other parts of your body, such as your throat. 

You might also experience sensitivity issues and toothaches that will only worsen the longer you delay. Prompt tooth extraction and dental implant can help prevent infections, cavities and abscesses.

To Stop You From Feeling Uncomfortable When You Have Gaps

It's no fun to have to take a load of extra precautions when biting into food. You may even have to avoid some hard foods, which means you could be without essential vitamins and minerals. When you do eat, you probably only chew with certain parts of your mouth. You may also hold your hand over your mouth when you laugh or try to keep your mouth shut when you chuckle. 

Also, you may not be as outgoing as you once were. Talking in public can be embarrassing when there are gaps in your mouth. Perhaps you've become accustomed to making these accommodations over the years, but that's not how it should be. 

To Boost Your Self-Confidence

One of the reasons people elect to replace their missing teeth with dental implants is to improve their self-esteem and self-confidence. When you have self-confidence, you generally have positive feelings about yourself and accept your faults and defects. If you know there is a gap or gaps in your teeth, a dental implant delay prolongs the negative feelings you may have about your appearance.

To Prevent Speech Problems

Missing and broken teeth can make it more difficult to pronounce words clearly and correctly. That´s because the tongue doesn’t make contact with them or the lips. In fact, here's a simple test, so you know what we mean. Try saying the word "teeth" without your tongue touching your front teeth. You sound different, don´t you?  Another problem is the tongue pushes more air through gaps that can cause a whistling sound when people speak. 

Dental implant delays will prolong your speech problems and can impact your self-confidence.

To Avoid Bigger Bills

When you delay, oral healthcare problems worsen and are more costly to fix. In this way, simple, affordable treatments can become jaw-droppingly expensive.

Say Goodbye To Dental Implant Delays

If you wait to get a procedure done, you're putting your teeth at risk. Dental implants are permanent solutions that improve your oral health and give your self-confidence a rocket-sized boost. If you are concerned about cost, affordable treatments are available, especially at Chesterfield Dentistry. Waiting to have surgery done can end up being more expensive in the long term.

Stop delaying and take your first step toward getting dental implants. Please get in touch with our friendly and professional team today to schedule a free consultation.