How Dental Implants Can Help Keep You Looking Young

When it comes to maintaining a youthful face, there are plenty of things you can do, ranging from something as simple as moisturizing to more serious procedures, like facelifts. However, it might surprise you to learn that dental implants can do a lot to help keep you looking young. If you're currently missing teeth or some of your teeth aren't doing too well, read on to learn more about how dental implants achieve this.

Sagging Jawlines and Age

There's no doubt about it: people associate saggy jawlines with old age. Average people and Hollywood stars all go out of their way to try and tighten and firm skin around the jaw in order to look younger. There are a lot of things that can cause saggy jawlines, like excessive sun exposure, weight loss, and simple gravity. However, one of the main reasons saggy jawlines are associated with age is because they often happen when people get weaker bones older in life.

Bone Loss

Weakening bones are very common in old age. Even without osteoporosis, bone density often drops in old age. This encompasses all of the bones in the body, including those in the face and jaw.

When jawbones become thinner and weaker, it drastically changes the look of one's face. The skin around the jaw, no matter how tight, may sag if there isn't enough of an underlying bone structure to hold it up as it once did.

Unfortunately, bone loss in the jaw is often accelerated by losing teeth. Simply keeping your teeth healthy can help to maintain bone density in the jaw, which in turn will help to keep you looking young. If you're missing some teeth, the good news is that you're not doomed to have weakened bones.

How Implants Support Your Jaw Bones

Dental implants, one of the best replacement options for missing teeth, can help to support and regrow bone cells as real teeth do.

Unlike other tooth replacements, dental implants have a metal peg that is implanted in the gums and jaw bone. This peg is what the artificial tooth is mounted on top of. When you bite down on the artificial tooth, the pressure is transferred into the peg and subsequently, the jawbone. This activates the body's osteoblasts, which build new bone cells. This can help your jaw to strengthen if it's already weakened, or it can keep it strong if your bones are still in good health.

Without caring for the underlying structure of your face, it will be much harder to continue looking young as the years go by. Thankfully, even with missing teeth, you can still accomplish this by getting dental implants from your dentist.