Posted by writeradmin
I had to get my teeth extracted and got dentures. Every single person I know is like, “You need to get dental implants. Dentures are really bad for you.” But they don’t care that I can’t afford them. They act like I’m going to die if I don’t. What would you recommend for someone in my situation?
Dennis
Dear Dennis,
I am sorry you are feeling so pressured. Let me first explain why they keep saying that it is important to get dental implants, and then we can talk about affordable dental implant solutions. While completely removable dentures have a lot of challenges, the biggest issue is facial collapse.
When your teeth are removed, your body recognizes that and knows it no longer has to support any teeth roots. Because of that it begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in order to be as efficient with your body’s resources as possible. While a great way of keeping your body a well oiled machine, it has the side effect of slowly shrinking your jawbone. After about ten or so years, you will no longer have enough minerals in your jawbone to keep your dentures in any more. That will limit you to a soft diet.
The reason dental implants solve that problem is the implants serve as prosthetic teeth roots. That tells your body that you still have teeth and, as a result, it leaves your jawbone intact.
Affordable Dental Implants
There is a way to get more affordable dental implants. The cost of dental implants is done per implant. That means the more implants you get, the more expensive the procedure would be. You can get get as few as two dental implants. In some cases you can get mini-implants which cost less. They don’t preserve as much bone, but they will preserve some.
My recommendation is that while you have these fewer implants, you save up to get more because only the areas with implants will halt bone loss. The good news is that if it takes you a long time to save up, at least the few implants you have will make sure you can at least keep your dentures in. There is a bone grafting procedure you can have that will build back up your bone so that you can get the remainder of the dental implants to protect your jawbone as a whole. I’d strive for a minimum of six.
This blog is brought to you by a compassionate dentist in Baton Rouge, Dr. John Theriot.