Did you know that hollow cheeks and sagging facial skin aren’t necessarily a product of age? While physical maturity can be a factor, tooth loss affects your facial features more than you might expect!
Dentures can help fill out your smile, but there’s a reason dental implants are your best restoration option when it comes to maintaining your youthful appearance. Keep reading to get all the juicy details.
How Facial Sagging Happens
Let’s address what’s likely the first question on your mind: how tooth loss and premature “facial sagging” are related. Tooth loss can affect your features in a couple of ways:
- By leaving your skin and smile muscles with less structural support. Your teeth play a key role in shaping your facial features!
- By gradually leading to jawbone loss. Without something in a tooth socket to provide stimulation and circulation, your jawbone misses out on essential nutrients and actually starts to recede. This also reduces your facial structure.
You can replace missing teeth with all kinds of dental restorations, but that will only get the job of preserving your youth half done. What can you do about your jawbone?
Why Dental Implants are the Best Solution
With dental implants, you can effectively prevent jawbone deterioration and preserve your facial silhouette. Unlike other restorations, dental implants use a titanium post to anchor the tooth-colored replacement part to your jawbone. Since titanium is highly biocompatible, your bone will grow around the post, eventually fusing with the material like it would a dental root.
Basically, this unique design allows your jawbone to receive the stimulation and circulation it needs to stay healthy and dense!
Get Started by Talking with Your Dentist
To avoid the negative effects of tooth loss, it’s important to fill your smile gap(s) with a dental restoration as soon as possible. Plus, while dental implants come with many advantages (more chewing efficiency, stability, and power, just to name a few), a short recovery time isn’t one of them! Schedule a consultation with your dentist so you can find out whether dental implants are right for you. The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll be able to enjoy a rejuvenated smile.
About the Author
Dr. Jodi B. Meadvin has over two decades in dentistry – she simply loves helping patients feel good about their smiles! That’s why she partners with trusted dental implant specialists in the area to provide her patients with the best care possible. Dr. Meadvin will help make sure your smile looks fantastic for years to come, so if you’re interested in a dental implant replacement, contact her office at 856-428-8822.