Tooth loss is far from a rare phenomenon. A lot of people lose teeth as they age for a variety of reasons. Most are lost to gum disease, some to tooth decay, and plenty more get knocked out due to injuries. Losing teeth is a fact of life for many people, but what if permanent tooth replacement solutions isn’t far from reach? What if the possibility to regrow missing teeth became a reality?!
A recent study has found out that we might be closer to regenerating teeth than we think. We’d love to be able to offer that kind of service at Shorewood Family Dental Care, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It might be possible, but we’re not there yet!
Unlocking The Secret To Regrow Missing Teeth
If you had to imagine how we’d regrow teeth what would you come up with? A simple procedure that “zaps” your ajw to trigger growth? Some sort of drug? A complex piece of equipment that guides the growth and moves the tooth into place?
It could be any one of those things, but one thing is for sure: it will need to take the genetics of tooth regrowth into account. That’s where this amazing new discovery comes in – an important discovery in the regrowth of teeth has been made!
Sharks, and many species of fish, constantly regrow their teeth. So do alligators. These two very different creatures share a gene that allows them to continually generate teeth for life, and it’s a gene us humans have too!
Somewhere down the line, about 400 million years or so ago, we all had a common ancestor that was probably able to regrow missing teeth. As humans, alligators, and sharks all continued to evolve away from each other us humans lost our ability to constantly regrow teeth, but we didn’t lose that gene completely. In fact, we just found out that the gene which lets us grow a second set of teeth is the same one that sharks and alligators use to keep regrowing theirs!
This amazing discovery just might pave the way for the future of tooth regeneration. That is, of course, if we can figure out how to use this information to engineer a way of actually reactivating that gene!
Until we’re able to figure out that rather daunting roadblock we’re going to have to stick to other methods of replacing lost teeth. Luckily for you there’s something available at our Shorewood office which is almost just as good as the real thing: dental implants!
Tooth Replacement That Looks And Feels Real!
Dental implants are built from the root to crown to perfectly mimic natural teeth. Implants themselves are made of titanium, which is incredibly good at integrating with bone. This connection makes them able to stay as firm and reliable as a natural tooth after just a few months of healing.
The implant itself is placed exactly where your lost tooth was. After healing we restore implants with incredibly lifelike crowns or bridges that are permanently attached. You’ll actually be able to enjoy between 90 and 100 percent of the bite force you had with natural teeth!
The implant procedure itself is quite simple. We place implants while you are anesthetized and under any sedation you may prefer. When healing is complete we place the crown and you’re ready to enjoy your brand new – and permanent – teeth!
We’re confident that you’ll love dental implants just as much as we do. They’re an amazing way to replace lost teeth, stop future tooth loss, and give you back the function that you’ve lost. To put it simply, there’s nothing out there that will work quite as well as a dental implant!
What About Tooth Regrowth?
There’s a long way to go before we can really regrow missing teeth – you may not even see that kind of amazing technology in your lifetime! Then again, who’s to say what we would have been able to accurately predict just 20 years ago? Think of how much has changed – even our smartphones are worlds away from what was possible in 2006!
Until we’re able to offer amazingly futuristic treatments like tooth regeneration we’d love to give you the chance to explore today’s state-of-the-art tooth replacement. Dental implants can truly change your life in ways you can’t imagine while living with tooth loss.
Request an appointment online or simple call our dental implants Joliet IL office today at 815-725-5991. We look forward to seeing you soon!
