I have had dental implants for over 30 years. I was wondering if it were possible to get dental implants after this length of time? I have never had a pretty smile and I would love one.
Carly
Dear Carly,
Implant overdentures
There are two questions here. The first is can you have dental implants. Then you mentioned a pretty smile. Those are two separate issues. Let’s start with the dental implants. As long as you are in good general health, it is possible to get dental implants no matter how long you have been wearing dentures. The one thing the length of time will affect is the amount of bone support you will have for your dental implants. After thirty years, you won’t have much. This will mean you will need one additional procedure so there will be enough support in order to retain your dental implants. This can be done with a bone grafting procedure. Once there has been a healing time for that, you can start on your dental implants.
You won’t actually want a single dental implant for each tooth. That would be way too expensive. Instead, I would suggest you get implant overdentures. With this you will get between four and eight dental implants depending on your budget, and then a new set of dentures will be anchored to each arch. Obviously, the more implants you have the more secure they will be and the more bone preservation you’ll have, but four per arch can do the job.
The second aspect of your question was a pretty smile. Having dentures or dental implants does not determine whether or not your smile will be attractive. That has more to do with the cosmetic skills of the dentist doing the work. Feel free to ask to see sample images of their before and after work before you commit to anything. You’ll also want to make sure they have significant post-doctoral training in implants. Dental school does not give enough training in this field.
This blog is brought to you by Atlanta Periodontist Dr. David Pumphrey.
