I have been in dentures for a little over seven years while I saved up for dental implants. It took me a little longer than I expected. Is it too late at this point for me to get dental implants?
Stacy
Dear Stacy,
Technically, it is never too late to get dental implants, but you will need one other procedure to make it work— bone grafting. The moment all of your teeth were removed, it signaled to your brain that there was no longer any teeth roots to support. As a result, your body begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in order to use them elsewhere in your body where they will be more useful. Honestly, it is a remarkably efficient system.
The unfortunate side effect is that your jawbone begins to shrink. Eventually, there won’t be enough of your jawbone left for you to even retain your dentures in your mouth, making you a dental cripple. This is known as facial collapse and in addition to make it impossible for you to chew, will also make you look decades older.
The solution to this is bone grafting. This will build up the bone you lost. It is also the procedure that will enable you to get the dental implants you want. Once you have the implants placed, that signals to your body that you DO have teeth, so it leaves your newly built up jawbone alone. Then, after a period of healing, you can have new dentures anchored to them. You will once again be able to eat anything you want, even things you loved before having trouble with your teeth.
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