If your teeth aren't looking so hot these days, you might be a candidate for dental implant dentistry. Dental implants can replace your missing or decayed teeth so that you can chew and talk with more confidence from now on. When it comes time to select the type of dental implant you want installed, you have multiple options. While titanium remains a popular choice, more dental patients today are looking into the benefits of going with zirconia. Here's how a zirconia dental implant might be the right choice for you.

It's Just One Piece

A titanium dental implant is typically made up of three pieces that are connected together. This can make the actual implant process a bit more complicated because the dentist or dental surgeon will have more work to do to get it all to come together correctly inside your mouth. A zirconia dental implant, however, is just one piece. This piece is infused right into the jawbone. Because it's just one piece, the surgery needed to get it installed is usually shorter. 

Titanium implants can also cause problems sometimes because it's possible for bacteria to get lodged at the places where the three pieces intersect. With zirconia typically being one smooth piece, there are no areas where this can happen.

No Metal Mouth

Another advantage of zirconia is that you won't have to deal with the downsides of having a metal installed into your mouth like with titanium. Titanium implants can sometimes cause you to have "metal mouth," which is to say that you can actually taste the metal from time to time. You might even feel a bit of an electrical charge if your metal implants somehow get close to another form of metal. Zirconia has none of these problems. Zirconia is a crystal, not a metal, and there are no known side effects for it causing a change in taste. 

Zirconia Looks Better

Zirconia is the way to go if you want your implants to look like natural teeth. Zirconia is a bright white, and isn't that the color just about everyone wants their teeth to be? You can, of course, get dental crowns installed on top of a metal titanium implant, but that's an additional step, and in the opinion of some, it still won't look as good as zirconia.

If you are thinking about getting dental implants, talk to your dentist about the benefits of zirconia today