Theriot Family Dental

A Pretty Smile After 23 Years?

Posted by writeradmin

I’ve been wearing dentures for a little over twenty-two years. My smile has never been pretty as a result. I have seen people with dental implants that have very attractive smiles. I’d like to switch to those but don’t know if it is too late.

Lucy

Dear Lucy,

implant overdentures
Implant Overdentures

 

It is never too late to get a beautiful smile. The way to do it for you will require a two-pronged explanation.  First, getting dental implants to begin with. You’ve been in dentures quite a while. In fact, you’ve been wearing dentures long enough where you have entered into what is known as facial collapse. Your lower jawbone will have begun to shrink significantly. It won’t be long until you won’t be able to even keep your dentures in. Because of that, you will need a bone grafting procedure to start. This is important because you need enough bone support to retain the implants.

Something to be aware of is that when you are talking about replacing all your teeth, you do not want it to be a one-to-one relationship. That would be way too expensive. Instead, you will get what is known as implant overdentures (pictured above). With this, you will have between four to eight implants placed and then anchor a new pair of dentures to them. Obviously, the more implants the better, but consider your budget carefully. This leads me to the second part of this discussion–a beautiful smile.

It is not the difference between dentures and dental implants that makes a smile beautiful. It all depends on the artistic skill of the dentist doing the procedure. You could have an equally beautiful smile with dentures as you could with dental implants. Here is what I’d like you to do. First, find a skilled dental implant dentist. The best are fellows with the International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI). Once you find an implant dentist, then I want you to look at their smile gallery. This will give you an idea of whether their work is beautiful or not. Find someone’s work that is stunning and you’d be proud to show off when you smile.

This blog is brought to you by Lafayette, LA Dentist Dr. John Theriot.