Our Blog
23
Jul
Achieving Attractive Dental Implants
If you have one or more missing teeth, people will notice when you smile, when you laugh, when you talk, and in any other situation where you’re showing your teeth. From the standpoint of replacing a missing tooth, dental implants will definitely improve the appearance of your smile. But will they necessarily give you an attractive smile? That depends.
Achieving attractiveness with dental implants is challenging, and if you want the best chance of getting these quality results, you want to work with a talented implant dentist.
Challenges in Getting an Attractive Dental Implant
Dental implants aren’t automatically as attractive as your natural tooth. Although they are as close as possible to your natural tooth, they are not exactly the same, so they depend on the artistry of an implant dentist to ensure the best-looking results possible. Learn more about different implant designs here.
It’s possible that your implant might not match your natural tooth in any of the following ways:
- Color
- Luster
- Size and shape
- Gumline
A qualified cosmetic dentist can usually guarantee that many of these problems can be overcome. Using the proper materials will ensure the luster of your replacement tooth matches closely to the luster of tooth enamel. Good color matching by the dentist and the lab will ensure the new tooth matches the color. A cosmetic dentist will also know how to design a tooth that matches the size and shape of your other teeth.
What is not so easy to get right is the gum line, which may ultimately be beyond your dentist’s control.
Why It Can Be Hard to Get Gums Right
Your gums are soft tissues that have their own life, but they also depend on your teeth and bones for support. If you had gum disease before losing your tooth or teeth, the gums may have receded or you may have lost vital bone in this region that is necessary to support the gums. You might also lose gums in the time between when you lost your tooth and got your dental implant placed.
Most sensitive to loss are the papilla, the narrow pieces of gums that protrude up between your teeth. These are easy to lose and can be hard to regrow. The healing of these issues are governed by principles we don’t fully understand and can’t completely control.
Where Is Your Smile Line?
The good news is that these subtle details may not matter much. Your smile line is the place where your lips fall across your teeth when you smile. The location of this line governs how much of your teeth you will show when you smile. If your smile line is such that it doesn’t reveal the gums around your dental implants, you won’t have to worry if some of these uncontrollable factors don’t work out in your favor.
If your smile line shows your gums around where your dental implant will be, or if you’re concerned about the appearance even if it won’t show, we can talk to you in more detail about what we can do to promote the full recovery of your gums. To talk to a Beverly Hills implant dentist, please call (310) 275-5325 for an appointment.