What Are the Different Teeth Replacement Options?

Tooth loss sometimes is unavoidable. It can happen due to several reasons ranging from dental trauma and gum disease to cavities and tooth decay. Whatever the reason may be the terrific news, your smile can be restored.

Restorative dentistry offers several missing teeth replacement options designed to restore your smile and improve your oral health. Most people think that replacing missing teeth is all about reinventing their smiles and is an entirely cosmetic dental affair. However, this is not the case.

Teeth play a more vital role than just determining how you look. They influence speech, digestion, facial structure, and even your overall health. That’s why you should consider replacing those missing teeth.

Let’s take a detailed look at some of the wonderful missing teeth replacement options available within our dental clinic in Alexandria.

Teeth Replacement Options

Several teeth replacement options within restorative dentistry are designed to address either multiple or single tooth loss. Some of the options may include:

• Dental Implants

Tooth implants are one of the most sought-after tooth replacement options because they are sturdy, biocompatible, and resemble natural teeth in appearance and functionality. Dental implants are made of titanium posts surgically inserted into the jawbone to act as the root and support for tooth replacement.

In an actual sense, dental implants are the only tooth replacement option that consecutively replaces both the crown and root. The titanium post is biocompatible and fuses with the jawbone through osseointegration to form a strong root system that mimics the missing tooth’s root.

The firmly fixed root system ensures that the dental implant will be strongly anchored into the jawbone and will therefore not shift when you are chewing or talking.

Our dentist can then mount the abutment after the dental implant heals and completely fuses with the jaw bone. Then your customized crown or prosthesis is placed onto the abutment completing the procedure.

• Partial Dentures

These are removable teeth replacement options that can restore a few missing pearly whites. They consist of a gum-colored base section that holds the fake teeth. The gum-colored base has a metal frame fitted snuggly between your natural teeth to anchor it in place.

Putting in partial dentures is non-invasive and swift, and partial dentures cost less than dental implants. However, partial dentures can be a bit uncomfortable; this might cause your speech to be affected. Also, depending on the location of the partial denture, the metal clasps may be visible when you talk or laugh. With time partial dentures will need to get readjusted to function as they should.

• Fixed Bridges

These are fixed tooth replacements. Fixed bridges are made of pontics or false teeth held in position using abutment teeth on either side of the gap being filled. The false teeth are customized from porcelain to ensure that they blend in with your surrounding teeth and have a natural appearance.

There are four types of bridges, and these may include; traditional, implant-supported, Maryland, and Cantilever bridges.

Implant-supported fixed bridges are ranked as one of the most stable and strongest fixed bridges. The dental implants positioned on either side of the bridge anchor it firmly and securely into place and help reduce jawbone deterioration.

Traditional bridges typically join the natural teeth in the mouth with the fake teeth. Crowns are placed on your teeth on either side of the gap to help hold the fake teeth in place.

Traditional fixed bridges are among the most commonly used fixed bridges because they are much easier to fix than surgically fixed implant-supported bridges.

Like the traditional bridge, the cantilever bridge uses natural teeth with crowns to stay anchored in place; the key difference is that the cantilever bridge connects to a natural or abutment tooth on only one side of the gap.

A Maryland bridge also goes by the resin-bonded bridge. In this fixed bridge, the false teeth are held in place using metal bands attached to the abutment (anchor) teeth on either side of the gap.

• Implant-Supported Dentures

These dentures are stronger and more firmly anchored than the traditional alternative dentures because it is firmly held in position using implants. Implant-supported dentures function like natural teeth improving your appearance and ability to chew.

These dentures, unlike traditional dentures, also preserve jawbone mass and facial muscle.

Restorative dentistry has several tooth replacement options you can pick from depending on your preference, the cost, and the goal in mind. Contact us today at Burton Dentistry for your customized tooth replacement procedure.