Dental implants can be truly life-changing for those elderly patients who have lived years or even decades with inferior solutions such as dentures. Suddenly they are able to eat a richer and more enjoyable diet (something they had long ago given up on), talk without feeling insecure about people seeing their dentures moving about, and most importantly, they are back to stimulating and preserving the jawbone to prevent any further bone loss.
A dental implant is a metal post that replaces the root portion of a missing tooth. An artificial tooth (crown) is placed on an extension of the post (abutment) on the dental implant, giving you the look of a real tooth.