One of the most versatile and beneficial dental tools at your disposal is dental implants, mostly because dental implants can do everything from improving your oral health to making it more comfortable and easy to wear dentures. Listed below are two ways that dental implants can help you maintain your oral health.

Protect Your Jawbone From Deterioration

The biggest problem that can occur as you lose your teeth is that your jawbone will begin to break down and deteriorate. The reason for this is that your jawbone relies on stimulation from your teeth to encourage the bone to grow and heal. However, when you lose teeth, that stimulation that comes from chewing and speaking ends up lessening, which results in the jawbone breaking down. 

In addition, when enough of your teeth are lost, the deterioration of your jawbone will get bad enough that you will start to experience a change in your appearance, usually because the structure and shape of your jawline will be changing. However, having dental implants installed will help prevent the loss of your jawbone and can even reverse the bone loss. The reason for this is that a dental implant will typically be installed in a way that causes the end of the implant to reach the jawbone, which means that the implant will be able to provide the same stimulation to the jawbone that your natural teeth do.

Keep Your Teeth In Their Proper Place

Another way that dental implant can help you maintain your oral health is by keeping your teeth in their proper place. When you lose a tooth, the neighboring teeth will often start shifting into that empty space, which can lead to crowded or crooked teeth. Not only will the crowded teeth affect the cosmetic appearance of your smile, but it will also make it much harder to clean your teeth as it will be harder for floss or the bristles of your toothbrush to reach between the teeth. 

In addition, once the teeth shift into those empty spaces and become crooked, it can end up costing a lot of money and time to get those teeth straightened out again. However, if you replace a missing tooth with an implant, the implant will provide a barrier that will prevent your teeth from attempting to move and fill in an empty space.

Make an appointment with your local dentist today in order to discuss if dental implants would be right for you and how they may be able to benefit you. Dental implants can help you maintain your oral health by both protecting your jawbone from deterioration and keeping your teeth in their proper place.