Mature Methods: Am I Too Old for Dental Implants?

Aging affects the human body in many ways, and your smile is no exception. For instance, bone density generally decreases after you reach 50 years old at a rate of about 3% to 10% per decade. That’s bad news if you have missing teeth because treatments like dental implants require enough healthy bone material to be successful.

As a result, many senior patients worry that it’s too late for them to be fitted with these restorations. If you’re concerned that you’re too old for dental implants, keep reading to learn why there’s still hope!

What are Dental Implants?

These prosthetics are the only replacement teeth with a titanium rod surgically embedded into your jawbone. This is capped with an appropriate restoration, like a dental crown, to close the gap in your grin. They are customized to match your teeth’s shape, color, and size for seamless results, meaning that they can boost your appearance and improve your dental condition.

How Does Tooth Loss Affect Bone Density?

Many patients are surprised to learn that the roots of their teeth help preserve your overall dental health by stimulating new jawbone growth every time you bite down or chew. When teeth go missing, up to 25% of the surrounding bone mass can be lost within the first year. This can cause sunken cheeks, additional fine lines in your face, and weaken the foundation of your teeth, resulting in further tooth loss.

Unfortunately, aging can speed up the process of degeneration. Typically, bone mass peaks in your 20s and starts declining when you’re middle-aged. That means they can be quite frail by the time you reach 65 years or older, which is when many patients experience tooth loss.  

Is It Too Late to Get Dental Implants?

It’s natural to wonder whether your jawbone has deteriorated past the point of no return regarding these prosthetics. Thankfully, these replacement teeth typically have a positive outcome and have an incredibly high success rate of more than 90%. This is because your jawbone fuses with the titanium rod through a process called osseointegration. As new bone is generated, it envelops and eventually fully encompasses the implant, so it’s a permanent part of your smile.

If your jawbone is too thin, you’re less likely to complete this stage of recovery, increasing the likelihood of failure. Thankfully, an additional bone graft procedure can often bulk up the foundation of your teeth enough to proceed.

Although age and tooth loss can affect your bone density, your provider has ways to overcome obstacles that might otherwise prevent you from getting dental implants.

About the Practice

At Whitinsville Family Dentistry, you benefit from two compassionate dentists with decades of combined experience. Dr. Agnihotri and Dr. Tubo provide a comprehensive array of services under one roof, so you and the entire family enjoy the same world-class care. They customize treatment plans to meet your unique needs and then utilize state-of-the-art equipment to enhance your comfort while delivering accurate results. They have the training and technology to place and restore your dental implants in the office so there’s no need to seek additional outside providers. You can request an appointment on the website or call (508) 234-8107.