INTRODUCTION
About 113 million American adults are missing at least one tooth. Another 19 million have no teeth at all. To fill these gaps - and restore their smile - many are turning to dental implants.

Dental implants are artificial teeth surgically anchored into your jawbone. They're permanent and stable. They don't rely on other teeth for support, as other dental appliances do. And they look and feel like your natural teeth. They are, in fact, advertised as "the next best thing to natural teeth."

What's more, the majority of patients treated with dental implants experience a significant improvement in their ability to chew food. They feel more comfortable and their smiles are greatly enhanced.

This helps explain why implants are becoming increasingly popular - 400,000 individual implants are performed each year.

But there are other reasons. For example, implants are also extremely durable. They're unlikely to break or fracture.

And while it's difficult to determine how permanent they are since the earliest dental implants are just 30 years old, the success rate is remarkable. Depending on which study you refer to, the survival rate after five years is 95-98% for implants in the front of the lower jaw and 85-91% for implants in the sides and rear of the upper jaw.

However, receiving implants can be a daunting, time consuming, and expensive treatment.

Implants usually require two surgical procedures. During the first procedure, tiny titanium posts are threaded like a screw into your jawbone. The bone then grows around these posts, anchoring them. After the jaw heals, the second procedure is performed, during which permanent porcelain bridges or individual teeth are screwed or cemented onto the titanium posts. If a cosmetic dentist is not performing the surgery, this can be a 3-step surgical process.

Total treatment time from placement of the posts to final restoration can take from five to nine months depending on how much work is done.

And total cost can range from $1,500 to $4,000 per tooth (although dental insurance may cover a portion of the treatment). The actual implant ranges from $1,500-2,000 per tooth, and the cost of the crown placed on top of the fixture is approximately $1,000 per tooth.

As a result, choosing dental implants is not a decision to be taken lightly.

Discuss the matter carefully with your dentist. You'll discover that dental implants make perfect sense if you can't adjust to dentures and bridges, if you want to fill gaps in your smile without harming adjacent teeth, or if you desire the permanency dental implants give you.

When the procedure is complete, your teeth will not only be stronger, they may become the most attractive feature of your face.

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