Quality Check: 3 Traits of Ideal Dental Implant Candidates

Tooth loss can detract from your daily quality of life in several ways. For instance, you might feel self-conscious about the new gap in your grin, develop speech impediments, or struggle to chew thoroughly.

Thankfully, your dentist can restore your smile’s appearance and functionality with dental implants, which many experts consider the ideal replacement teeth. Unlike dentures and bridges, they are embedded into your jawbone, which provides unique advantages. However, that doesn’t make them the best solution for everyone’s situation. Continue reading to learn 3 traits your dentist looks for in ideal implant candidates!

Quality #1: Dedicated to Dental Hygiene

The dental implant procedure has an incredibly high success rate of more than 90%, but as with any surgery, there’s a slight chance you might develop an infection or other complication after your procedure. Your mouth is full of bacteria eager to penetrate the site and cause damage, decay, or disease, like the number one leading cause of failure, peri-implantitis.

These common concerns can thankfully be prevented with a twice-daily dental hygiene routine. You should thoroughly brush your teeth for a full two minutes both morning and night, followed by flossing to remove plaque and germs from between your teeth and below your gumline. Demonstrating a commitment to your oral hygiene before your initial consultation can improve the likelihood of your procedure being approved.

Quality #2: Sufficiently Strong Jawbone

Did you know that your jawbone thins after tooth loss? Under normal circumstances, your roots stimulate additional bone growth that keeps it active and strong. When one goes missing, it starts to thin, leaving your teeth without a firm enough foundation.

If you lack sufficient jawbone density for dental implants to be successful, don’t lose hope. In many cases, an additional bone graft procedure can bulk it up enough for you to continue with your desired treatment.

Quality #3: Good General Health

You can expect your dentist to update your medical history during your dental implant consultation because they must verify that your body is capable of undergoing surgery and healing effectively afterward. Certain pre-existing conditions, like diabetes or heart disease, can interfere with implant success. Not only might they cause negative interactions with anesthesia, but they can also suppress your immune system or slow healing after your procedure.

Your dentist doesn’t want to do anything that could interfere negatively with your general health, so they’ll need to confirm that your conditions are managed adequately before continuing with implants.

If you’re still unsure whether you’re a good candidate for dental implants, consulting your dentist is the best way to find out!

Meet the Author

Dr. Bob Heil has more than 20 years of experience helping families in Oshkosh build and maintain happy, healthy smiles. He earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery at the University of Minnesota and has completed continuing educational courses in various topics, such as sleep medicine and DOCS certification for sedation. Today, he offers a variety of services to meet all your needs under one roof, including dental implants. He partners with local specialists for accurate placement, then provides lifelike restorations customized to match your smile seamlessly. You can request an appointment on the website or call (920) 235-0320.