Many of us didn’t always make the best choices when we were younger. From picking up unhealthy habits like smoking, drinking, and drugs, to not taking the best care of our dental health, we may have experienced lasting damage to our teeth and gums.
Unfortunately, the health effects of these poor decisions aren’t always reversible. Instead, they can dog us throughout our lives. Teeth that have been damaged once get damaged again and again. Once your health is compromised, it can be very hard to get healthy again. Many people spend years taking care of unhealthy teeth and never being rewarded with a healthy, attractive, functional set of teeth.
If this is you, don’t despair. You can get an opportunity for a fresh start at dental health with dental implants. Your dental implants can be your second chance at great oral health.
A Third Set of Teeth
We naturally have just two sets of teeth. The first that is supposed to last us during most of our childhood, called baby or deciduous teeth. The second set of teeth, which can start coming in at age 6, have to last us the rest of our lives. That is hardly an equitable distribution, or a fair expectation for people who generally live 80 years or more.
Fortunately, we now have the option of dental implants, which can serve as your third set of teeth, taking over when your natural teeth just can’t last anymore. These teeth look and function like natural teeth, but in some ways they can be even better.
Clear Out Gum Disease
Getting rid of your natural teeth can also give us an opportunity to get rid of the gum disease that may have plagued you for decades.
When planning your dental implant procedure, we will evaluate your gum disease and work to resolve it before we place your dental implants. Sometimes, this means you might have a period between when your natural teeth were extracted and you receive dental implants. It’s uncommon, but it’s worth it in some cases to resolve gum disease.
Cavity-Free Teeth
Some of us develop our first cavities shortly after our first teeth, and are plagued with them for the rest of our lives. In fact, about 96% of all American adults get cavities, so it’s common to struggle with this oral health problem.
But dental implants are different from natural teeth: they don’t develop cavities. So once you get dental implants, your days of struggling with cavities are over.
A New Chance to Care for Your Smile
Many of us don’t see the value of healthy habits when we’re young. It’s only as we get older and wiser that we appreciate the benefits of a healthy diet, regular exercise, and good oral hygiene.
When you get dental implants, you have the opportunity to start over, practicing all the habits you might not have used when you were younger.
And caring for dental implants is basically the same as caring for natural teeth: brush, floss, and see your dentist regularly. If you do that, the odds are good that your dental implants will last you for the rest of your life. There are documented cases of implants lasting up to 50 years!
Your Fresh Start Is Waiting for You
If you are in Columbia, SC, and are wishing you could get a fresh start with a new smile, you can. Dental implants let you start over with a new smile.
To learn how dental implants can help you, please call (803) 781-9090 today for an appointment with Columbia, SC implant dentist Dr. Adam Hahn at Smile Columbia Dentistry.
