Dentzz- Tooth Replacement Options: Dental Implants, Bridges, and Dentures

Today, there are multiple options for replacing damaged teeth. Although most patients prefer implants it is best to consult your dentist who will suggests a suitable treatment after examining your teeth. A detailed list of different tooth replacement options are listed below along with their pros and cons to help you take best decision.

What is a Dental Implant?

Our experts at Dentzz provide complete teeth examination to assess the amount of bone volume you have in the region of the missing tooth because a certain amount of bone is needed to support an implant. Bone regeneration techniques that have been used for ages can develop the health of your teeth to make you a candidate for implants.

Fixed Bridge

At Dentzz, we help patients replace teeth that have a fixed bridge if the area to be repaired is healthy and strong to support the artificial teeth. To make sure that we can fabricate a bridge, the teeth are prepared by cutting down their size, remove all the enamel, and thus make room for the prosthetic tooth restoration. It can be suspended between adjacent teeth to provide a functional and cosmetic replacement for the missing tooth. 

One of the limitations of this form is the irreversible preparation of the adjacent (abutment) teeth for support. It exposes them to the risk of trauma to their nerves as well as raises the danger of requiring root canal treatment. Long-term, fixed bridges that serve as natural teeth have an average life expectancy of 10-12 years much before they require replacement.

Dentures
Removable partial or full dentures help replace a single missing tooth, or all of the teeth in your upper and lower jaw. It relies on the support of other teeth in the jaw (for partial dentures) and from mechanical support, the remaining ridge of gum and underlying bone. The full dentures also may be helped by suction between the denture and the underlying gum of your palate (roof of the mouth).

Bone Loss 
When teeth are removed from the jaw, it is the bone that supports the teeth and tends to shrink over time. This process is called resorption. It is a consequence of the loss of stimulation to the bone from the forces placed on the teeth. The process involves the alveolar bone (the bone that supports the teeth) that begins almost as soon as the tooth is extracted and proceeds over time. The bone will lose both height and width from resorption.

Drifting Loss of a few teeth in a segment of your mouth can cause the drifting of neighbouring teeth, whereby the close teeth lean over into the vacant space where the teeth have been lost. Similarly, loss of a tooth can lead to shifting of opposing teeth as they drift down into the open space (super-erupt).

Teeth tend to have a constant tendency to move both towards the front of our mouths as well as towards the opposite jaw. It can be stopped by something on their way, mostly the adjacent or opposing teeth. It allows us to proceed in a pathologic way. As teeth drift, they create discrepancies of the gum tissue that predispose adjacent teeth to periodontal disease progression right from the accumulation of food. It helps in cleaning these areas from the "piled-up" gum tissue. Drifting teeth can adversely affect the occlusion (bite), as well as cosmetics of your face and smile.