If you're missing some teeth but still have others, it might surprise you to learn that those remaining, healthy teeth could use some help. While your remaining teeth are healthy now, they may not stay that way with missing teeth. Here's why your remaining teeth need dental implants as their next-door neighbors.

How Dental Implants Restore Function

Dental implants are a permanent method of replacing teeth, and they're also the most natural way to do it. While other missing teeth replacements help to improve your appearance and allow you to eat more normally, they often don't provide a way for your jaw's normal functions to return to normal.

Dental implants use a strong titanium peg beneath them that keeps them in place. This is put into your jaw in the same way that your original tooth roots were. This helps to boost the strength and density of your jaw bone, encourages better circulation in your gums, and helps to reduce stress on surrounding teeth when you eat and chew.

Your Neighboring Teeth

At this point, your remaining neighboring teeth are probably not doing as well as they did when they still had neighboring teeth. When you lost your teeth, the bone density in your jaw began to drop. If the bones become weak enough, your remaining teeth may become a bit loose. You can also experience gum disease more easily with missing teeth, as circulation in your gums isn't as good as it once was.

By adding dental implants, you not only restore the circulation, but you can help to boost your bone density back to where it was. Over time, the neighboring teeth will be as firmly rooted as they once were as your gums and jaw become healthier.

What To Do

If you're ready to protect your remaining teeth and don't want to have gaps between them anymore, it's time to talk to a dentist. Your dentist will be able to assess your dental health to find out if you're an eligible candidate for dental implants. If you are, you should immediately be able to get the process started.

Dental implants require multiple appointments with your dentist, but they're fairly easy to install. Your dentist will initially fit you with the titanium posts, and then you'll be sent home to let your gums fully close up around them. In the meantime, your dentist will order your custom-fit implants. Once your gums are healthy, and the implants have arrived, your dentist will call you back in to mount them on top. From that point, you're completely done, and your new smile will greet you every time you smile in the mirror.

Dental implants can do a lot for a smile, including keeping your remaining teeth healthy. If you don't want to lose more teeth than you already have, get in touch with a dental office like Dansville Family Dental Care today to set up dental implants for yourself.