What does this mean?

Cosmetic dental surgery can not only improve your smile but can also boost your self-confidence. The highly experienced, board-certified doctors and friendly staff provide a full range of general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry and restorative dentistry services including the following:

Why Dental Implants

Dental implants provide many benefits to you. The most dramatic is for the patient with a loose denture, especially the lower. If you have one, you know exactly what I mean. Do you avoid social situations that involve food? Do you go to the wedding but skip the reception because you cannot chew what you want to? Are you limited to certain items on the restaurant menu because of your teeth?

Implants stabilize the teeth so that they do not move during chewing, speaking, or singing. Your biting force with a denture is less than a quarter of what it is with teeth present! You can bite down as hard as you want on an implant supported tooth or teeth and feel no discomfort whatever.

The most common way to stabilize a lower denture is to place a number of implants in the lower front jaw. This is the area that is the safest to place an implant, as the bone there is dense and strong, and there are no major nerves in the area. The gold colored parts in the photograph are Locator™ abutments screwed onto the dental implants, which are securely locked into the bone. You feel no discomfort whatever when these are pressed on or tapped, so they are a very secure base for the denture. The denture has easily replaceable nylon snaps that hold the denture down, so no coming loose when you chew or talk!

A similar approach can be done on the upper jaw as well.


	Implants		Inside of denture

One major, yet often overlooked advantage of dental implants is the preservation of your jawbone. After any tooth is removed, the bone holding that tooth in place starts to melt away. Bone is like a muscle--you use it or lose it. The bone needs stimulation in a certain way to stay there. For example, astronauts who spend a long time in weightlessness have much weaker bones when they return to Earth, as the bone as well as the muscles atrophy from disuse, or lack of stimulation. The good news is that dental implants stimulate the bone in much the same way as a tooth, preventing the loss of bone.

People are living longer than ever before-it is not uncommon for people to live active lives well into their 80's and 90's! Unfortunately, they can sometimes outlive their jawbone-so that the bone is so atrophied that they cannot wear any kind of denture. If you wait until then, it is unlikely that you would be healthy enough to undergo implant placement, so it is often too late! That is why placing implants while you are relatively young and healthy is good insurance. How many of you have heard the phrase, "If I knew I'd live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!"

This illustrates the amount of bone that can be lost over a lifetime without teeth or implants to stimulate the bone. You can imagine how uncomfortable a denture would be sitting on this severely resorbed jawbone.

Cosmetic consequences of tooth loss.
As bone is lost, your face changes shape. Wrinkles deepen as you lose the bony support for the muscles. Your chin gets closer to your nose, as most lower dentures are made much shorter than your natural teeth were. The lower jaw appears forward (Dick Tracy look) because the jaw is over closed. The lips appear thinner because of lack of support. A "witch's chin" can appear because of migration of the muscle attachments.

Implants allow the teeth to be placed closer to where they were originally, restoring much of the facial shape. Lower dentures are usually made much shorter than your original teeth were, to make them more stable. This results in a short lower face, where your chin is too close to your nose.

What if I am missing only one or a few teeth?
In many instances, implants can support fixed teeth that you do not remove. Placement of the implant can stop the bone loss in even a single tooth site. If the tooth has been extracted for years and the bone has melted away, many times a bone grafting procedure can build up the bone sufficient to place an implant, restoring the area as closely as modern science can to having your tooth back.


	Before		After

This man shattered his front tooth in an accident-a dental implant replaced the tooth, as well as a porcelain veneer to improve the appearance of his other central incisor.

If you feel you can benefit from dental implants, contact us for a complimentary consultation. This offer is for existing patients as well as new ones! Also please see the dental implants section under services for additional information.

Cosmetic Dentistry

In his continuous pursuit of excellence, Dr. Highsmith has been working for several years on accreditation in the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and he is almost finished. This is an article by Dr. Highsmith on one of his cases that was published in the AACD journal.

Pdf article on AACD Journal case

Regardless of where you come from or what language you speak, your smile is an important form of communication. It instantly portrays your personality, self-image and how you feel about the people you're with.

A healthy, attractive smile is an important facet of life-it impacts your health, self-esteem and relationships, both personal and professional.

Do you feel awkward or self-conscious about your smile?
Do you cover your mouth when you talk or smile?
When the camera shutter opens, do your lips close? Do you hate close-up shots?
Do you avoid wearing bright lipstick because you're afraid of highlighting your teeth?
Have you ever grown a mustache or beard to help hide your smile?

Nearly half of adults surveyed say they would like to make some improvement in the appearance of their smile.

- AACD Survey Findings

For most people, an appealing smile is an important part of the overall impression a person makes. An American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry® (AACD) survey found:

More than 92% of adults agree that an attractive smile is an important social asset.
Nearly as many, close to 88%, say they always remember someone with an especially attractive smile.
85% agree that an unattractive smile makes a person less appealing to people of the opposite sex.
74% agree that an unattractive smile can hurt a person's chances for career success.

Many adults want to change their smiles. Some want to correct problems they have had since childhood such as discolored, gapped, or crooked teeth. Others want to fix conditions they've developed over time, like cracked or worn-down teeth, to help create a more youthful smile.

If you are unhappy with your smile, contact us for a complimentary smile analysis. This offer applies to current patients as well as new patients! We now have the technology and training to improve any smile! The main criteria is what you want your smile to look like. In most cases, we can use one of several methods to show you what your new smile will look like!

For more information on dental implants, click here

Dr. Highsmith and Dr. Fultz serving Asheville, Hendersonville, Clyde, Bavard, Canton, Waynesville, Flat Rock, Fetcher, Fairway, Weaverville, Mars Hill, and surrounding areas.

John M. Highsmith, DDS and Charles Fultz, DDS provide general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry & implant dentistry for the whole family. They emphasize the following services and procedures: tooth bleaching, tooth whitening, composite resins, CEREC, dental implants, porcelain veneers, porcelain crowns, dental hygiene, oral sedation, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and tooth decay.


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