If you are only missing a single tooth then you do have a couple of options for its replacement. The most traditional would be to choose a bridge. This involves crowning the teeth adjacent to the gap and attaching the crowns to a replacement tooth. The process is very straightforward but it may not necessarily be the best choice. In order to crown these teeth, your dentist will need to shape them, removing a substantial part of their structure to create sufficient room for the crowns. This may not be the best idea if these teeth are perfectly healthy and do not need crowning. Once a tooth is crowned there is no going back and there is always the chance the crown could leak at a later date, allowing bacteria to get underneath the crown, causing decay and infection. Advantages of choosing dental implants include:
Dental Implants Don’t Rely on Existing Teeth for Support
If you choose a dental implant then this won’t be a problem as dental implants are self-supporting and don’t require perfectly healthy teeth to be ground down or modified in any way at all. Instead, your dental implant will help provide support to your remaining natural teeth by ensuring they cannot move out of position and by making sure your jawbone remains healthy and strong.
Dental Implants Preserve Your Jawbone
Once a natural tooth is extracted, then the jawbone does begin to change shape, gradually losing mass and density as it no longer receives any sort of stimulation from the tooth root. Replacing a natural tooth with a dental implant helps preserve your jawbone by providing a similar sort of stimulation to ensure the bone remains healthy and doesn’t lose mass and density.
A Single Dental Implant Can Look Wonderful
Take a look at your natural teeth to see how they emerge from your gums. It’s this emergent profile that helps create such a beautiful look and it can’t easily be replicated with a bridge. This is because the replacement tooth will merely sit on your gums rather than emerging from them. With a dental implant, your implant crown will look just like a real tooth, emerging from your gums creating a look that closely replicates nature.
A Dental Implant Could Be More Cost-Effective in the Longer Term
A single dental implant may be a slightly more expensive option compared to a bridge but when you take a longer term view it can prove to be more economical. For a start this type of restoration only affects a single tooth whereas a bridge is likely to affect another two of your natural teeth. All types of restorations need replacing periodically and it’s much more expensive to replace a bridge that affects three teeth than a single crown. In addition, single dental implants can last for a very long while, provided you are meticulous about your oral hygiene and have regular check-ups and professional cleanings.
If you are considering replacing a single tooth with either a bridge or an implant then it pays to think carefully about your choice. If you choose a bridge with the idea of perhaps replacing it with an implant later on then bear in mind that those adjacent teeth will always need crowns.
Yours in oral health,
Dr Violeta Claus
