Dental implants are more popular now than they have ever been. Three million people in the United States have at least one dental implant, and that number is growing by half a million each year.¹ But what makes them so popular? The answer is simple: the dental implant success rates are impressive.
Dental implants remain successful even after 10 years, making them one of the longest-lasting options for those who have lost teeth. To know whether dental implants are the right choice, you must understand how they work and how to analyze their success rates.
What Are Dental Implants? Understanding Their Basic Function
Dental implants look and act a bit like screws. They’re made of titanium and are surgically placed by a periodontist into the jawbone where you have a missing tooth. They essentially function like the root of a tooth. These titanium screws or posts bond to your jawbone, allowing an abutment to be placed. It, in turn, holds a crown or false tooth to help you regain your full bite.
The crowns are custom-made to match the rest of your teeth, and they require just about the same kind of care: brushing and flossing twice a day. A dental implant works and looks just like a natural tooth.
Factors Contributing to High Success Rate
Many factors impact the success rate of dental implants, including the implant post. Titanium is especially well-suited to fuse with your jawbone, allowing you to quickly begin to feel and use the dental implant as a natural part of your mouth. Because dental implants continue offering stimulation to the jawbone, there is also less risk of bone loss, which affects the implant itself as well as other teeth.
The technology and techniques used during dental implant procedures have also improved exponentially, with more advanced scanning options and special software available to display what the results can look like.
To assist in improving dental implant success rates, patients should follow the best oral hygiene routines and get regular preventative dental checkups.
Statistics and Dental Implant Success Rates
Dental implant success rates after one year are at an average of 97.3%, according to the International Journal of Implant Dentistry, and long-term survival remains between 93.3% and 98%.²³
Dental implant success rates can vary based on the patient’s health level and lifestyle. People who smoke or have active periodontal disease, for example, can experience less success than those who don’t. The expertise of the periodontist also plays a role, as can the location of the implant. The requirement of a bone graft or not can also contribute to the success rate of a dental implant. The type and quality of the implant itself also determine the success rate.
Long-Term Benefits and Patient Satisfaction
Dental implants allow patients to eat as they normally would, speak and smile without worrying about dentures shifting or issues with their smile, and otherwise enjoy a higher quality of life. There’s less of a risk of jawbone loss, as well, which can affect the facial structure and health of other teeth.
Patient satisfaction remains high even after years of having the implant, with one study finding that 94% of those who received dental implants were happy with the aesthetics of the treatment.⁴ One of the best things about dental implants is that, with the right care and maintenance, they can last a lifetime.
Get the Benefits of Dental Implants
Given their high success rates and many benefits, dental implants have a lot to offer. If you have missing teeth, the best thing you can do is to speak with a periodontist to see whether implants are the right choice for you.
Learn more about dental implants by scheduling an appointment at Dental Implants & Periodontal Health of Rochester. 585-685-2005
Sources:
[1] https://www.aaid-implant.org/what-are-dental-implants/
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6212375/
[3] https://bmcoralhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12903-021-01651-8
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27136739/
