The goal of modern dentistry is for each & every patient to keep all their teeth for their entire lifetime. As dental health awareness & dental technology have advanced over the last half century, we now see fewer older people who are missing all their teeth (a condition dentists call edentulism). Still, we find that people may loose a tooth or a few & not think much of it. The reality is that a missing tooth is far more than just a gap in your smile: it can have serious oral health & psychological effects down the line.

Bones are similar to muscles in that if you don’t stimulate them, they will start to atrophy. The bones in your jaws are stimulated when the force of biting & chewing travels down the root of your teeth into the bone. When you lose even a single tooth, the bone under where the tooth used to be starts to weaken & decrease in density. If you are missing all the teeth on your upper or lower jaw, this effect is even more pronounced, & can lead to the face having a sunken & shortened appearance that makes a person look much older.

Patients who have lost teeth also experience negative effects on their health & quality of life. Missing teeth can make it hard for people to eat healthy foods that might be difficult to chew, such as nuts, vegetables & meats. As a result, many patients with missing teeth also suffer from poor nutrition. Missing teeth can also have social consequences, as patients who are self conscious about their appearance or eating ability may avoid social activities that they once enjoyed.

If you are missing teeth it’s very important that you look into your options for tooth replacement as soon as possible. The longer you wait to replace a tooth, the worse your problems with bone loss & other consequences will be.

Best options for replacing teeth:

Dental Implants

Dental implants are by far the best option for replacing teeth. A major reason for this is they replace both the tooth root & the crown. The fact that the replacement tooth is imbedded in the bone helps prevent further bone loss. The implant is an artificial tooth root that is anchored in the bone. The crown is a porcelain or ceramic tooth that is then attached to the metal implant using dental cement. Essentially, the only drawback to dental implants is the healing time, which can be as long as three months. But the result is permanent teeth that will last the rest of your life & be as functional as if you never lost your natural teeth. Plus, unlike other tooth restoration options, implants don’t ever have to be replaced or adjusted, so you only have to pay for them once.

Bridges

Bridges are replacement teeth that are held in place by attaching to neighboring healthy teeth. While traditionally bridges have been made from gold, ceramic, or alloys, today the preferred kind of bridge is made entirely of ceramic. This provides the most natural-looking result. A ceramic bridge consists of a false tooth with hollow tooth crowns on either side. These hollow crowns are then cemented to nearby healthy teeth that have been reshaped & the false tooth in the middle fills the gap left by your missing tooth.

Bridges can help prevent bone loss in your jaw & also keep your remaining teeth from shifting into the gap, which can misalign your bite, make chewing difficult & even affect your appearance. While bridges are durable & long-lasting, most of the time they do need to be replaced eventually. Bridges are also a less desirable option than implants because they involve taking structure away from healthy teeth in order to attach the bridge, so the loss of one tooth ends up affecting several teeth.

Partials & Dentures

Dentures are dental appliance that replace an entire arch of teeth (i.e. all the teeth on your upper jaw or lower jaw). Dentures consist of a plate that holds false teeth & gums that are held in place by fitting over your gums & the power of suction. Dentures are usually made of a durable resin material that is colored to look like your own natural teeth. Partials are used for patients who are missing a few, but not all, of the teeth in an arch. They consist of a plate that fits against the roof of the mouth, false teeth, & clips that attach to existing teeth to hold the partial in place.

While dentures & partials will restore the appearance of your smile & some of its function, they do not help prevent bone loss due to missing teeth. Even if you wear dentures the bones of your jaw will continue to diminish & change shape. As a result, you may need to have your dentures adjusted or replaced, as the original bone structure they were designed for will have changed. This is why, despite having a lower upfront cost, dentures can end up costing more than dental implants in the long run.

If you are missing teeth or know you are at risk of losing teeth, please don’t hesitate to talk to us about your options.

Dental implants are the latest & greatest in dental technology that allows dentist to replace missing teeth permanently. You may know that implants can replace teeth & are used in complete smile reconstructions & makeovers. But you may also not be sure exactly what dental implants are, & how they work.

That’s why we’ve written this simple & quick intro to dental implants. If you want more detail about the implant procedure or want to find out if you’re a good candidate for dental implants, please call us to schedule an implant consultation visit.

First, we want to familiarize you with how natural teeth work. Natural teeth consist of a crown, which is the visible part of tooth that’s outside the gums, & a root, which is under the gums & attached to the bone of your jaw. Your smaller front teeth tend to have one root each while the larger teeth toward the back of your mouth (molars & bicuspids) tend to have more than one. The root of your teeth contain the nerve & the pulp, which nourish the inside of a healthy tooth. When this pulp becomes damaged or infected, that’s when the dentist tells you you need a root canal, a procedure which can save your tooth even when the pulp is compromised.

Traditional tooth replacement options such as bridges (partials) & dentures only structurally replaced the crown part of your missing tooth. Bridges or partials replace your tooth by attaching an artificial tooth to the healthy teeth nearby. Dentures replace an entire upper or lower arch of teeth & visually replace the gums too for a natural look. Neither of these options anchor replacement teeth in your jaw or gums, which means that people with these appliances have to avoid many foods & may experience slipping or discomfort when eating or speaking.

With the quickly-advancing technology of dental implants, we can finally offer a restorative dentistry option that replaces your missing teeth both visually & functionally.

Dental implants actually consist of two parts, just like your natural teeth. The implant itself acts as an artificial tooth root & is secured in the bone of your jaw just like a real root. Implants are made of a special kind of bio-safe titanium. Both this special metal & the screw-like shape of the implant’s lower portion are designed so that bone will grow around it, keeping it tightly in place.

The second part of the dental implant is the crown. This is an artificial tooth that is made of porcelain & is custom designed by a dental technician to match the color, size & shape of your natural teeth. It is attached to the metal implant using a permanent dental adhesive.

Once the procedure is complete & the patient has healed, they will have fully functional teeth that are virtually indistinguishable from natural teeth. The result is a return to eating any of the foods you want, speaking naturally, smiling confidently & being free of dental pain.

It’s true that dental implants cost more than most tooth replacement options such as bridges or dentures. If your biggest concern is cost, you may consider these other options. However, if you biggest concern is your longterm comfort, health & quality of life, implants are your best option.