Patients who are interested in getting dental implants to replace missing teeth should understand the relationship between dental implants and the jawbone. You need to understand how dental implants can protect the condition of the jawbone and how the condition of the jawbone helps determine whether patients are eligible for implants.

The following are four important things to know about jawbone conditions when you're considering dental implants. 

Using dental implants to replace missing teeth can prevent bone loss in the jaw.

When teeth are missing, the jawbone is no longer stimulated by the missing tooth roots so that old bone cells are replaced. This can cause bone density to go down.

One of the best benefits of dental implants is that they both replace missing teeth and prevent bone loss. Dental implants include a small screw component that is inserted into the jaw. This component stimulates the jawbone to regenerate bone cells and thereby maintain bone density. 

Dentists typically recommend that patients have missing teeth replaced immediately to protect the jawbone.

Patients should not procrastinate about replacing missing teeth if they want to optimize the health of their jawbone. The longer patients wait to have teeth replaced with dental implants, the more likely it will be that their jawbone will suffer and weaken. 

Your dentist will examine your jawbone when determining whether dental implants are a good choice for you.

Patients need to have a jawbone that offers adequate bone density to be approved for the dental implant procedure by a dentist. Patients with jawbones that have already become weakened may not be able to have dental implants put in place because dental implants may be unlikely to properly integrate with the jawbone. 

Dentists can perform a CT scan of a patient's jawbone to determine how much bone density there is and whether the jawbone is healthy enough for implants. Undergoing an examination of one's jawbone is an important step in the process of getting dental implants.

Bone grafting can help make patients with low jawbone density eligible for dental implants.

Fortunately, some patients may still be able to get dental implants even if a CT scan has determined that their jawbone density is low. The process of bone grafting can often strengthen a patient's jawbone enough so that it will be able to support dental implants.

During the bone grafting procedure, a biocompatible bone structure is added to a patient's existing jawbone. This can be done through the placement of either donor tissue or artificial hard tissue on the dental arch of the jaw.