What are Good Candidates for Dental Implants?

Patients struggling with tooth loss solutions have a lot of choices available to them. It can be stressful to make the decision to get artificial teeth. One of the most popular solutions are dental implants. Once they have made that choice, they are then told that not everyone is a good candidate for them. How is this possible? How is it fair? Well, in short, it is not fair but necessary.

What Are Dental Implants

Dental implants are one of the most popular choices for artificial tooth solutions available. This is because they are permanently secured to the jawbone which means they are a part of the patient’s mouth. They look and feel like natural teeth and can be brushed and flossed and professionally cleaned as if they were the patient’s real teeth.

The three parts of an implant are the implant, abutment, and crown. The implant is the component that is embedded into the bone. The abutment is then secured to the implant providing the foundation for the final component known as a crown which is the only visible part of the implant. Implants can provide the foundation for a variety of dental appliances and can be used for just a single tooth or an array of teeth.

Risk Factors

Due to them being embedded into the jawbone the patient must have an adequate healthy bone structure to support the implant. If they do not, then they are not considered a good candidate. Age is another consideration as is if the patient is going through menopause or has had radiation treatment all of which could be indicative of bone mass loss. Also, if a patient uses tobacco products with regularity or if they abuse alcohol.

All of these things do not preclude them from getting implants, it might just mean they need to have bone grafts to build up the lost bone mass. Please reach out to us to find out more.