If you have just lost one or more teeth you may be feeling rather daunted as you count up how many years you may have to do without being able to eat quite a long list of delicious and nutritious foods.

Chewy food (toffees, steak), crunchy food (apples, carrots), gloopy foods (nut butters), bitty foods (seeds and nuts) – and some special food loves that are no doubt running through your mind right now. Not being able to eat what we love can make life pretty depressing for some people. Fortunately, at Broadway Dental in Loughton, dental implants can do exactly what your teeth can.

What it’s all about?

Dental implants are intrinsically different from dentures because they replace the root as well as the crown of the tooth. The artificial root is a titanium post. This is inserted into the jawbone during a surgical procedure under local anaesthetic. Some nervous patients also opt for sedation too.

Over the following weeks, the implant becomes as stable as a natural root because the titanium from which it is made has the amazing property of being able to fuse with bone tissue. This not only creates a stable chewing base, but because the titanium encourages bone growth, the jawbone remains full and strong,avoiding that sunken aged look that denture wearers can acquire as their jawbones shrink.

Once the implant has integrated with the jawbone, you can return to us at Broadway Dental to have a dental fixture called an abutment attached to the post. An abutment is an internal screw and it is onto this that the final part of your restoration, the crown, is fitted.

When people opt for dental implants in Loughton the crowns are custom-made to blend in with their natural teeth. The material used is porcelain and this comes in a range of shades to match the colour of the surrounding teeth. Tooth shape and size is also important, and so technicians are specially trained to handcraft teeth to match impressions or photographs of your natural teeth.

Once the teeth are fitted, they are permanently and securely in place, and you can once again enjoy foods that you may have had to avoid for years.