3 Ways Dental Implants Can Restore Damage From Gum Disease

Everyone knows that dental implants are one of the best methods of replacing missing teeth, but that's not all that they can do. If you've had severe gum disease in the past, it may have left a lasting mark on your oral health. Here's how dental implants can help you to reclaim what's been lost.

Restoring Circulation

People with missing teeth are often also experiencing gum disease, as gum disease is one of the leading causes of tooth loss. Unfortunately, once the tooth is lost, the gums will likely get sicker without dental treatment.

This is because the circulation in your gums worsens after you've lost a tooth. When you bite down on teeth, it spreads the pressure of your bite through the surrounding surfaces, including your gums. Without the regular pressure that comes from biting, chewing, and grinding your teeth, your gums lose valuable circulation. Thankfully, getting a dental implant restores this circulation as implants are just as good at spreading pressure as real teeth.

Better Oral Hygiene Maintenance

When you lose a tooth, it might be due to poor oral hygiene to begin with. However, whether or not it was due to that, your oral hygiene is likely to take a hit after you've lost a tooth.

Many people don't realize that they need to continue caring for the parts of their gums where a tooth has been lost. Brushing is a must, and if there are any gum pockets, they should be flossed in an effort to keep food debris from building up in them. However, many people just skip over gaps in their mouth as brushing or flossing the open spots may feel odd or irritating.

By having your missing tooth replaced, your oral hygiene is likely to improve. You'll feel good about yourself and your new dental implant, and you'll likely want to keep it clean. The most important thing, however, is that cleaning it will be just like when you had all your teeth, so all you need to do is brush and floss.

Stronger Bones

Finally, if you had gum disease for a long period of time, chances are you've lost bone mass in your jaw bone. Constant inflammation from the gums can cause you to lose bone cells in the same way that gum disease can break down gum tissue. That, when combined with tooth loss, causes you to lose the steady pressure the jaw needs stay strong. When the pressure is lost, without replacement cells, your bones will become thinner. Replacing your teeth will help to add more pressure to the process and encourage the bone to grow.

Dental implants will repair your appearance and help to gradually repair the damage that was done by gum disease. Talk to a dentist to get the process started.