March 2021 | Williams Family Dentistry

I need to replace a tooth. I’ve been told that dental implants are the best replacement. However, I am having a hard time deciding. I’ve been told having metal in your dental work is bad for your body and planned on getting the zirconia implants, but now I’ve read that they may be radioactive. Is there any good choice in dental implants?

Monica

Dear Monica,

One of the problems with living in a litigious society is there are warnings for everything. The other day, a friend and I were putting up one of those car windshield shades and saw a note that said, “Warning: Do not drive with shade in window.” We just looked at each other and asked, “I wonder who was the idiot that made that warning necessary?”

When it comes to dental implants, you are actually safe no matter which type you get. The metal that affects most patients when it comes to dental care has more to do with patients that have metal allergies. The most common type of those allergies is nickel. The type of metal in traditional dental implants is titanium, which has been used for decades and is one of the most biocompatible materials available. Another common metal in dental work that people understandably want to avoid is mercury. This is found in those old silver fillings people used to get. While the American Dental Association still considers them safe, most dentists have switched to mercury-free composite fillings.

As far as zirconia goes, while there are trace amounts of radioactivity in them, it is actually around the same radioactivity you get in concrete and bricks. Even our drinking water has some radioactivity. My experience has been that most articles which bring up these type of frightening headlines are usually just clickbait. They need the clicks to justify their writing, so they try to scare people into reading their article.

If you don’t have any sensitivity to titanium, you may want to go the traditional implant route, simply because they have been around longer and we have more data on their longevity. But, honestly, you’ll be fine with either one. And, yes, dental implants are the best tooth replacement out there, so great choice!

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. Weaver.

I have been wearing dentures for a bit over 30 years and have never liked my smile. My teeth have always looked fake. Is there a way to get a pretty smile with dental implants or is it too late for me?

Karen

Dear Karen,

The overall answer to this question, is yes, you can get a beautiful smile with dental implants even after 30 years of wearing dentures. In that amount of time, you will have lost quite a bit of the bond structure in your jaw. This is because your body began to resorb the minerals in your jawbone to use elsewhere as soon as your teeth were removed. In that amount of time you have been with dentures, I expect you are having a difficult time keeping them in place.

Because of this, you will need an additional procedure, known as bone grafting, in order to have enough bone structure to securely retain dental implants. Once that is done and you have had time to heal, you can get the implants placed. While some dentists do both the surgery and implant crown, others will send you to an oral surgeon. If you are going to an oral surgeon, it is imperative you see the dentist first and that the dentist is the one who plans the implant placement, not the other way around.

When you are talking about replacing all your teeth, it is too cost prohibitive to place a dental implant for each missing tooth. Instead, you will place between four to eight dental implants per arch and anchor dentures to them. These are called implant supported dentures. You mentioned your current dentures look fake. It doesn’t have to be that way. You simply need to find an artistic cosmetic dentist who uses quality materials that will not wear down quickly.

The image directly above, with a man and a woman, shows how lovely and natural dentures can look. The gentleman wanted a more subdued, natural looking smile, while the woman wanted a bright, white, young looking smile. Both have implant supported dentures.

Be certain to research the artistic skills of whatever dentist you are thinking to have do this. Look at their smile gallery to see the before and after images of actual cases they have done.

This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Dentist Dr. Weaver.

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