Osteoporosis is a common condition, especially for older women, that causes a person to slowly lose bone mass. This leads to weak bones that can easily break, and it also leads to tooth loss. If you suffer from osteoporosis and are wondering if you can get dental implants to replace missing, loose, or bad teeth, here are several things you should know.

Osteoporosis causes tooth loss

When a person has osteoporosis, it means that the person is losing bone mass. This bone mass can occur with any of the bones in the body, including the jawbone. The problem with losing jawbone mass is that your jawbone supports your teeth. When you lose too much jawbone mass, your jawbone cannot support the teeth you have, and this can result in your teeth becoming loose.

The best time to get implants is right after you have teeth extracted

You should also realize that your jawbone mass is dependent upon having teeth. Your teeth serve many roles, and one of the roles is to keep your jawbone strong and healthy. If you have already lost teeth in your mouth, you may have already lost a lot of jawbone mass in these areas. If so, getting implants will be hard to do because implants rely on good jawbone mass.

Because of this, dentists will often recommend inserting implants right after extracting teeth. In other words, if you have a few loose teeth in your mouth, you should visit a dentist to have them removed and implants put in place of those teeth. This is your best chance to qualify for implants if you suffer from osteoporosis.

A dentist must analyze your mouth and jaw before recommending implants

It's also important to understand that every situation is different, and you will not be able to find out if you qualify for dental implants unless you visit a dentist. When visiting a dentist, he or she will examine your mouth and take x-rays of your mouth. The dentist will have to determine if your jawbone can support implants before he or she will recommend placing them in your mouth to fill in the gaps.

If you have osteoporosis, you might end up losing some of your teeth; however, you might be able to get them replaced with dental implants. If you would like to find out if you can get dental implants, contact a dentist in your city.