Using Dental Implants to Maintain Jawbone Density

Dr. Singh discusses how Dental Implants can be used to maintain, and even improve, the bone volume, and bone density of your jawbone.

Dr.Singh:

Those are two separate questions. If bone has been lost, it is possible to augment bone, graft bone, or build bone back up. That is the process to build it up. When dental implants are placed in that newly built-up bone, they help to support and maintain it… and in most cases, indefinitely 

Dr.Singh:

Implants maintain bone, because the body maintains the bone structure where there is a load (an opposing force). It’s the same reason that when astronauts go up into space, they actually lose bone. Their bodies are no longer weight bearing so their bones become thinner. The body doesn’t detect the need for stronger bone. When weight lifters and body builders work out with heavy loads, their bones actually get thicker, denser and heavier. The human body realizes that there are heavier forces acting on the bones, so they adjust accordingly.

The same applies with the bone in the jawbone – loads on the jawbone maintain bone density, thickness, and height. By placing dental implants, we are able to take advantage of this natural phenomenon. When a person bites down on food, they are applying a force on the teeth, and that force is transferred to the bone, through the dental implant. That way we are able to maintain the bone structure around the dental implant.