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An alligator can regrow a single tooth up to 50 times in its lifetime.
Some species of shark can regrow their teeth up to 24,000 times.
Humans can regrow their teeth … once. When we lose our primary or baby teeth, our permanent or adult teeth will replace them.
When our adult teeth are gone. That’s it. There’s nothing else coming …
But there is something you can do to replace your missing or lost teeth. You can get dental implants to restore your smile, your chewing ability, and maybe your confidence, too.
Sunrise Dental offers dental implants at each of our four locations in Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, and Cary, and our dentists would be glad to evaluate your mouth to find out if dental implants could help you.
Why You Should Consider Implants
We understand oral health much better than we used to thousands of years or hundreds of years ago. Even in the past few decades, dental researchers have improved on the things we already knew to make tooth replacements better than they have ever been.
Dentures and dental bridges can help, but they are missing a crucial element to be full tooth replacements. One their own, they don’t have a substitute for the roots of your teeth.
Over time, this can cause your face to sink, and this can make you appear older than you really are. How is this possible?
Because you need to replace the roots of your teeth, too.
Your roots and your jaw have something akin to a symbiotic relationship. Crocodiles (the cousins of the alligators we mentioned earlier) are a good example of this kind of relationship.
In Africa, birds called Egyptian plovers frequently can be seen sitting inside the open mouths of Nile crocodiles. This seems like a free meal for the crocodiles, and yet they do not eat the plovers.
The plovers help by removing food that has become stuck in crocodile teeth. This keeps the crocodiles’ mouths healthy, and it provides the plovers with food.
The symbiotic relationship inside your mouth starts with your roots helping your jaw by pressing into the jawbone whenever you bite or chew. This stimulates the jaw, which encourages new growth. This keeps the bone healthy and strong, so it can hold the roots firmly in place.
If you lose your tooth due to gum disease, tooth decay, or an injury, then your jaw loses the stimulation it once received. Instead of growing new bone to replace the cells that die, you jaw will continue to lose mass without replacing it.
This can lead to additional tooth loss. As your jaw slowly shrinks, it can change the shape of your face, too.
How Can Implants Help?
Dental implants were created to replace the roots of your missing teeth. Implants can be used in many ways, all of which are good for your oral health.
A single implant can support a dental crown. When this duo is placed, your smile will look complete and natural. The crown is functionally indistinguishable from your remaining real teeth.
A dental bridge can be used to replace multiple teeth. By placing it on one or more dental implants you regain the appearance of a full set of teeth, and you continue to be able to eat all the foods that you love.
Dentures have been the standard treatment for replacing a full arch of teeth for centuries. The material has become more lifelike, which is great for your smile, but dentures are not particularly secure, even with a dental adhesive.
Implant-secured dentures provide all the benefits of traditional implants, and the implants can rebuild your bite force as your mouth heals from the placement procedure.
With a series of dental implants to support your dentures, you won’t have to worry when you dine out with your family or friends. You can order anything from the menu secure in the knowledge that your dentures will remain in place.
Smile With Confidence
Often, people focus on the aesthetic and physical effects of losing a tooth. We have also become aware of the emotional repercussions of tooth loss.
Many patients with missing teeth come to Sunrise Dental because they are embarrassed by the look of their new smiles. This can hurt you at work and in social situations.
Having a full set of teeth can restore your self-confidence and address the physical issues that come with losing a tooth or teeth.
Make an appointment by calling or filling out our online form to visit a dentist near you in Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, or Cary.