Dental Implants in Mill Creek, WA

Tooth loss can take a major toll on your ability to enjoy life. Tooth loss leads to a series of related health problems that are often difficult to deal with. Chewing certain foods can be uncomfortable, and you may notice that your speech is also affected. But worst of all, you may want to hide your mouth because you feel like all anyone notices about you is the gap in your smile.

At Mill Creek Dental Health Care in Mill Creek, WA, we want to help you get your smile and your quality of life back. Our state-of-the-art dental implants provide a permanent replacement solution for missing teeth.

Why tooth loss is more than an esthetic problem

Tooth loss can lead to embarrassment or insecurities about how your smile looks. It is normal to feel self-conscious due to missing teeth, but, in reality, esthetics are actually the least of your worries.

Missing teeth affect a lot more than the appearance of your smile. If you don’t replace a missing tooth, changes in speech patterns occur, and bone resorption causes the bone in your jaw to recede. Plus, the gap in your smile allows adjacent teeth to shift and move, creating alignment issues.

Each tooth has a specific role and function in the mouth, and neighboring teeth work together to help keep each other strong. When a tooth is missing, remaining teeth have to work harder, leading to increased wear and possible breakage of otherwise healthy teeth. Filling the space left by a missing tooth is essential for ensuring comfort and proper function.

If you are struggling with tooth loss, you are not alone. Many of our Mill Creek dental implant patients have suffered natural tooth loss due to aging or health challenges, but implants have helped restore their smiles. To learn more about how you can benefit from dental implants, call our office today.

Dental Implants | Mill Creek Dental Health Care | Mill Creek, WAAre dental implants a healthy approach to restoring lost teeth?

Dental implants are arguably the best solution for replacing one or more lost teeth.

In the past, a three-unit bridge was the go-to solution for a single missing tooth. Unfortunately, this meant sacrificing the structure of the adjacent healthy teeth to create enough room for the restorations to fit correctly. The result is a two-teeth solution to a one-tooth problem. While bridges are still widely used for specific dental situations today, they are typically not the best option for replacing individual missing teeth.

Today, thanks to improved materials and advanced technology, we can offer our patients the option of replacing a missing tooth with a dental implant. Implants are a standalone solution that enables us to conserve healthy tooth structure of adjacent teeth.

Unlike with a bridge, neighboring teeth are not altered when an implant is placed. Implants also have a much higher success rate than traditional fixed bridges – up to 95 percent for most cases.

How do I care for my dental implant?

If you have made the decision to receive a dental implant, great! This is a wonderful first step toward a healthier smile. If you are new to the world of dental implants, however, you may be unfamiliar with how to best clean and care for them.

The good news is that dental implants are remarkably easy to care for. A safe rule of thumb is to treat your dental implant the same way you would treat a natural tooth: brush the implant twice each day, floss around the implant every evening, and avoid biting down hard directly on the implant. The crown of a well-cared-for dental implant can last for ten or even fifteen years.

Dental implants, just like natural teeth, run the risk of being damaged or broken. Over time, even a durable porcelain crown on top of an implant post can become worn down or cracked. If you sustain damage to your dental implant in Mill Creek, WA, contact our dental office right away. Depending on the level of damage, we will likely want to see you that same day. We will help treat your implant and potentially place a new crown if the current one is damaged beyond repair.

Benefits of dental implants at our Mill Creek office

  • There are numerous reasons to choose a dental implant. Some of the more obvious benefits include:
  • Restored oral function
  • Improved esthetics
  • Increased self-confidence
  • Providing a stable foundation for restorations
  • Improved comfort when eating and speaking
  • Stopping bone resorption and jaw deterioration
  • Simplified dental care

The benefits of dental implants go far beyond the reach of any bulleted list, however. Dental implants restore function to mouths that are otherwise damaged or compromised.

If you are considering dental implants in Mill Creek, WA, our dental office will examine your mouth to determine if you are a strong candidate for implants. Dr. Cirtaut and Dr. Habib will then work with you to decide the best timeline for your implant treatment. If you have questions about dental implants, don’t hesitate to call our team to learn more.

Natural Dental Implants | Mill Creek Dental Care | Mill Creek, WAWill my dental implant look natural?

Your dental implant should always look beautiful and natural in your mouth. Because the titanium implant post is placed into the gum line and hidden from view, the only part of the implant that will be visible is the porcelain crown.

Dental crowns are made of strong, tooth-colored porcelain. The crown placed on top of your dental implant will look very much like a natural tooth, and likely no one will know the crown is there except for you.

When one or more teeth are lost, a gap is left behind in the mouth. This gap can draw unwanted attention to the missing tooth or teeth, particularly if the gap is in the front of the mouth. Dental implants offer a functional solution while also providing an answer to an esthetic problem. If you choose to receive dental implants, your smile will look more cohesive and unified thanks to the porcelain crowns.

How can dental implants support my dentures?

Once the dental implant is anchored in your jaw, there are several restoration options we can discuss, depending on your needs. A single crown is the most common restorative procedure for tooth replacement, but implants can also be used to support a fixed dental bridge or dentures.

The typical procedure for dentures is to place as many as four dental implants at various points in the jaw. Your customized denture is designed with attachments that correspond to the implants. The result is stable dentures that provide superior function and look as close to natural teeth as possible.

Learn more about dental implants in Mill Creek 

We have seen dental implants dramatically change the lives of many of our patients. If you would like to learn how they can benefit you, please call our Mill Creek, WA dental office. We will be more than happy to arrange a convenient consultation with Dr. Habib or Dr. Cirtaut to talk about dental implants and your other tooth replacement options.