What Is The Best Age for Dental Implants?
Some diseases or injuries can lead to tooth loss. People who have lost their tooth might have complications such as defective speech, rapid bone loss, or discomfort because of changes in chewing patterns. In addition, people with missing teeth lack self-confidence when talking, and some rarely laugh.
Dental implants help improve health while restoring the confidence and the smile of patients missing a tooth. The procedure is not painful, and although it takes months from start to finish, the results are incredible. So visit our dentist’s office in Venice, FL, and they will get you the perfect smile.
What Is The Right Age for Dental Implants?
Dental implants are ideal for people who are 25 years and above. However, if dentists place dental implants on patients whose jaws are still growing, it might delay jaw development and affect the growth of other teeth.
Most of the patients whose teeth get replaced are older people aged 50 years due to teeth loss from old age. Older people also make excellent candidates because their jaws are fully grown and have mature teeth.
Why Children and Teenagers Are Not Good Candidates for Dental Implants?
Our dentist at 34285 surgically inserts dental implants into the jaw bone, taking the place of the tooth root. The screws extending into the jaw provide support because they act as the implant’s roots. The main reason why dentists do not carry out these surgical procedures on children and teenagers is that their jaws and gums are immature. As a result, dental implants will affect the growth of teeth and jaws. Apart from having half-grown teeth, affected jaws lead to other oral complications.
Some of these complications include:
- Bone loss around the prosthetic
- Aesthetic changes in the craniofacial region
- Bite problems
- Spaces between one’s teeth
What Are the Alternative Treatments for Children?
Since children who have lost their teeth cannot have dental implants, it doesn’t mean that your child won’t maintain their smile. There are better alternatives.
Here are some of the alternatives to dental implants.
Removable Pediatric Partial Dentures
Our dentist in Venice, FL, customizes prostheses to fit your child’s mouth. Although acrylic materials mainly make dentures, some include metal to make them stronger. Moreover, you’ll get fixtures that resemble natural teeth, so you never have to worry about them being noticed. The resemblance makes it hard for people to notice that one has artificial teeth.
Fixed Space Maintainers
This option is best for children missing molars. Depending on the child’s age and the tooth missing, dentists choose from transpalatal arch, lingual holding arch, distal shoe appliance, and band-and-loop maintainers. Parents need not worry about their children losing the maintainers because they cannot remove the devices.
Our dentist near you uses orthopedic bands to hold the dividers in place. Stainless steel wire makes the band-and-loop and dividers, which helps preserve the strength of the space maintainers.
Although the lingual holding arch works for both the left and right lower and upper sides of the mouth, dentists mainly use it for the lower back teeth.
No Upper Age Limit for Dental Implants
Although dentists consider the health of their patients, there is no upper age limit to replace missing teeth with dental implant surgery.
People between the ages of 25 and 65 make the best candidates for dental implants because they have well-developed jaws. Also, many people of those ages have lost a tooth along the way and because older people’s teeth do not regrow, getting a dental implant is the best alternative to cover missing teeth.
If you need dental implants near you, visit Tarpon Shores Dental. We offer single tooth implants, implant-retained bridges, implant-retained dentures, and All-on-4 implants. We also offer other cosmetic dental procedures such as porcelain veneers, dental crowns, and teeth whitening.
Dr. Shanaka L. Weerasooriya is an expert in restorative dentistry, general dentistry, and preventive dentistry. We also provide pediatric dental procedures, and our emergency dentist in Venice will be happy to serve you if your child ever experiences a dental emergency. So reach out today and schedule an appointment with us any day from Monday to Friday between 8 am-5 pm.