Dental Implants
Dental implants can last a person’s entire life potentially. The implant itself is what is actually embedded into the bone; it’s a piece of titanium that’s similar to somebody who has a knee replacement or a hip replacement, the little pins that orthopedic surgeons use to rebuild parts in the body. For all intents and purposes, what a dental implant is it’s just the part that goes into the jawbone. Once it fuses with the jawbone it’s going to be there as long as the jawbone’s there. If the jawbone shrinks away or the jawbone breaks or something, yes you could potentially lose your dental implant.
Whatever you’re putting or hooking onto a dental implant, that is subject to whatever your lifestyle is like. If it’s a crown, that’s just a tooth, then the crown will generally last 10, 15, 20 years depending on what material you choose to make it out of, but at the end of that lifecycle the only thing that really needs to be redone is not the implant but the crown.
A denture is the same way. You could put a denture on some dental implants and then you’d be able to chew with them like normal, but after time the denture might slowly wear out after 10, 15 years and you’d have to have the denture replaced but not necessarily the implants.
Dental implants are a fantastic way to go and a great investment on an individual’s part, especially for missing teeth because of the fact that you’re rebuilding the foundational aspect of your mouth and then it’s whatever you’re choosing to put on top of it is what you’re going to be using.