Dental Implants and NY Smiles
Innovative Dentistry for Missing Teeth
Dental Implants
If you have one or more missing teeth, dental implants can fill the gaps and restore your smile. Implants are prosthetic teeth that are attached to posts that have been surgically placed into your jawbone.
Dr. Tobin works in partnership with an implant specialist to bring you the best in customized care for this procedure. Dental implants are extremely lifelike, very durable, and can give you a lifetime of healthy smiles with proper care.
Benefits of Dental Implants
- Implants can replace individual or multiple teeth
- Adjacent teeth are not damaged or stressed
- Shifting of surrounding teeth is prevented
- Implants look natural and realistic
- Normal brushing and flossing is the only care required
Learn more about dental implants
Although implant dentistry was first introduced as a tooth replacement option for people that didn't have any teeth, dentists immediately saw the chance to use this method to replace a single missing tooth. The most common missing tooth is the lower first molar.
Previously, the only treatment option for patients with a single missing tooth was to create a bridge, which involves grinding down the adjacent teeth. This is still a common practice. The problem is that the teeth being ground down are usually perfectly healthy, but are destroyed to replace one missing tooth. Also, a bridge only replaces the visible part of the tooth, but not the root. This causes problems during chewing, as the pressure from the missing tooth is redirected to the adjacent teeth, putting stress on those teeth.
A dental implant, on the other hand, involves the use of an artificial root, which supports the visible part of the tooth replacement without interfering with the healthy teeth on either side. Dentists now feel that replacing a missing tooth with a dental implant is a healthier and more conservative treatment than traditional bridges.
