The average adult between the ages of 35 and 49 are missing seven teeth. While it’s possible that four of those teeth are wisdom teeth, it still means that some people are missing three other natural teeth. In order to stay prepared for the potential loss, it’s important to figure our viable options for tooth replacement. Below we suggest some options that you can consider.
Dental Implant – Tooth Replacement
This is where your tooth is replaced with an artificial tooth. This implant is placed in the root of the tooth that is removed and then has a crown, bridge or a denture placed on top. This is a good option to consider as it allows you to bite and use your teeth as usual. The only drawback to this is that the implant is most likely made of titanium, a metal that reacts with microbes within your mouth. This prompts the titanium to release toxins that stress out your immune system. There is also the case where it’s a very expensive process.
All-on-Four Implant Supported Dentures
Another tooth replacement strategy is actually instead of replacing the tooth get a full-arch lower denture. The idea behind this to get the denture but have it supported by four implants. If you are going for an upper denture you’ll need six for this.
Two of these implants will be placed on the front of the arch in positions where your front teeth were. As for the other two they are placed on both sides of those two other implants at a 45 degree angle point at the back of your mouth.
This technique is designed to have the denture clip onto the dental implants through special attachments on the fitting surface.
Implant-Supported Fixed Bridge
When you are using a fixed bridge, a single tooth replacement doesn’t become necessary. Instead, with the assistance of a bridge it can restore several missing teeth and can even replace an arch of teeth if need be. Depending on the type of dental implant, the amount of implants needed and the number of teeth that can be restored will vary.
The idea behind this implant bridge is that it’s similar to a tooth-supported fixed bridge, except you are using implants. The benefit of this though is that if the bridge does get compromised, you are losing implants rather than real teeth.
Furthermore because it’s an implant it can be easily removed for cleaning and repairing too. Best of all is that the screw holes of the bridge are covered by tooth-coloured composite resin, making them look like real teeth.
Removable Complete Dentures
The last option you can consider is removable dentures. Out of the suggested methods, this is the least invasive procedure. As the others require heavy dental work and surgery in some cases. This option is there for people who want that but also a low-cost solution to it all. Dentures are composed of an acrylic gum-coloured base to make them look real. Furthermore they are to be attached to the gum directly from there.
While that is great, dentures can cause a lot of problems further down the road. So we suggest these are not a viable long-term solution to tooth replacement.
