It’s painful and unfortunate when we lose a tooth, however in this day and age we have several missing tooth options where we can pick from to replace it. Below are 5 missing tooth options that are commonly picked.
Missing tooth options: Removable partial denture
Dentures are a quick and cheap solution to consider in our missing tooth options list. These dentures can be worn through the day and can even replace more than one tooth. In the event you pick this, the denture will need metal clasps that are used to lock it in place in your mouth. These are similar to retainers.
The downside to them is that people can notice the metal if you are smiling or speaking. Furthermore they will be moving around when you talking or eating which can make it uncomfortable for the wearer.
It’s also advisable to remove them at night and to soak them in a cleaning solution overnight.
Temporary denture
Another one of the missing tooth options is the temporary denture, otherwise known as the flipper. The reason it got that name is because it flips in and out with ease. This is much like a temporary crown in the sense that this is there as a placeholder. For this case a dentist will offer this as means of waiting for the site to heal so the dentist can place an implant or a bridge.
The flipper is a removable partial denture however it’s not as sturdy, or bulky, but is also cheaper. Again, this is a temporary fix more so than a permanent fix.
Bridge
Bridges are permanent fixes for teeth. If you go for this one of the five missing tooth options, the procedure involves two posts being inserted into the surrounding teeth. Normally there will be two of these posts and placed on either side of the tooth gap. From there those two teeth are trimmed down so the new tooth can be slipped in and is held together by the bridge.
The downside to having a bridge is that they aren’t built to last, most crumbling between 5 and 10 years. With bridges on the lower jaw not lasting as long due to the flexing of your lower jaw. Furthermore if one side of the bridge fails you may end up replacing the teeth that were affected by this.
Implants
An implant is one of the best solutions out there for one of the missing tooth options. That being said it’s the most expensive out the alternatives that we have looked over. The process involves having a titanium bolt being placed into the root of your missing tooth. It’ll then have a permanent crown placed on it after a while.
The advantages to these implants is that they are great for when you are missing a single tooth and it’s not at all noticeable as the other options that we’ve seen. The only disadvantage is that it may take a while to get the permanent crown placed in not to mention the price of the operation may be out of range for most people.
Do Nothing
The last option for missing tooth options is truly doing nothing at all about it. With the tooth removed, the bone in that area melts away and your other teeth will shift over to fill that gap. The up side is that you save several hundred dollars at the least, however this can affect your dental and even living experiences. From the fact that cleaning your teeth being more difficult to bone loss or decay for existing teeth.
