What does a Japanese competitive eater and mini-dental implants have in common?
Answer: After one sitting, you’ll be surprised how big surprises come in small packages.
While I wouldn’t recommend doing what the 5’8” Takeru Kobayashi does to his teeth for a living, his small stature certainly underlies surprisingly large results.
When it comes to mini-dental implants, the same is basically true: You can have a smile that is secure, preventing dentures from slipping and giving you the force in your bite which you may have lost due to a missing or damaged tooth, all from a tiny piece of titanium.
All of that security, but in such a small package. Just like Kobayashi.
What Are Mini-Dental Implants?
A good question, so let’s back up just a moment.
If you have a tooth that is missing or so severely damaged it isn’t worth restoring – or in the extreme cases of complete edentulism, or total tooth loss – then a regular dental implant is often your best best for restoring what was lost and improving upon it.
Note that I used to word “often.”
In order for a dental implant to work as it is intended, there must be enough bone material for the implant to “grab” onto. Normally, the implant (or implants, as the case might be) is placed through the gum line and into the bone itself, allowing it to be securely anchored in place and therefore letting you bite and chew with the same kind of force you remember from your natural smile.
Yet sometimes, a patient doesn’t have enough bone material in their jaw to support a dental implant. A similar example would be like putting the post for a mailbox into a patch of quicksand. It’s just not going to hold up.
When a patient lacks sufficient bone density to support a regular dental implant, usually one of two options is selected by the patient:
Option #1: A painful, time-intensive bone grafting procedure. This is a highly invasive form of craniofacial surgery which involves removing a piece of healthy bone from elsewhere on your jaw and grafting it to the socket-site where the implant should go. The recovery process can take weeks, even months in some cases, and can require repeat visits and constant checkups to make sure the process is going smoothly.
Option #2: A mini-dental implant.
As you can see, Option #1 is painful and time-consuming, but Option #2 essentially does an end-run around the complications which can arise from low bone density, allowing you to have your smile the way you want it, and without unnecessary pain and without even lengthier recovery times.
Where Do You Go From Here?
The reason for installing any kind of dental implant, regular or mini-sized, is to provide a firm, sturdy base for a restorative dentistry procedure such as a crown, a dental bridge, or completely securing an entire set of glistening new dentures.
Studies have shown that dental implants are second only to natural teeth in terms of “bite force,” so you won’t have to look at that apple with fear anymore, and instead, you can eat it without the same worries that you had before.
Implants are especially advantageous to denture wearers, as they completely surpass traditional (and often weird-smelling) adhesive gels and powders when it comes to eat what you want and how you want to – just like Kobayashi, although hopefully you exercise better portion control.
It is precisely this kind of freedom which can make mini-dental implants and their larger cousins crucial for any future cosmetic dentistry treatments that could enhance your smile light years beyond its current state.
Making Your Appointment Today
If you have missing teeth, then the longer you wait to do something about filling in the gaps of your smile, the greater your risk for gum disease, tooth decay, and even jawbone loss becomes. That’s right: In order to maintain a proper density, your jaw requires a proper bite in order to “exercise” it, kind of like a muscle.
Dental implants allow you to use to make sure that you never lose it!
But until you make your appointment with me, then the benefits of mini-dental implants are merely words on a webpage.
That’s why I challenge you to make a change in your smile and in your life, and schedule a consultation appointment with me to see if mini-dental implants are right for you.
I can be reached at 610-314-7534. Alternatively, you can request an appointment with me online just by filling out this form.