Fix Missing Teeth
Losing a tooth can be uncomfortable, and often times traumatic. Luckily, there are quality treatment and restoration options including the following:
- Removable Partial Dentures: Missing a front tooth can feel embarrassing for people. But one option for a missing front tooth is a removable partial denture. This can be worn daily and can be used to replace a single missing tooth or many missing teeth. Occasionally, a partial denture will need to be secured in the mouth with metal clasps, which can sometimes be visible when a person is smiling or speaking. And it is good to know that sometimes the removable partial denture will shift or move a little when a person is eating or talking. Some people find this uncomfortable. But with a partial denture filing down other teeth is not needed, and it can be removed at night for cleaning. This option is cost effective and can be used to replace any or all teeth.
- Temporary Dentures: A temporary denture can offer a short term fix for a person’s missing tooth. Also known as a “flipper” because it easy to flip in and out, a temporary denture gets used as part of an overall restoration treatment plan while the site of the missing tooth is fully healing. While it looks a lot like a natural tooth, like a removable partial denture it is meant to be taken out at night.
- Bridges: A bridge is a treatment often used when there are still healthy teeth on each side of the site of the tooth that is missing. Bridges are fixed solutions which do not come out because they are cemented in the mouth with a special dental cement. Bridge treatments involve cutting down teeth on each side of the missing tooth in order for them to get connected together. Sometimes bridges do not last as long in the lower jaw because bridges are undependable and sometimes “spring a leak” which may allow for bacteria to develop or decay. A bridge is most often used for replacing one missing tooth or two missing teeth.
- Dental Implants: Dental implants can be an ideal treatment for missing teeth. This treatment will offer a very natural feeling and well functioning option. An implant is used to replace the root of a missing tooth. After placement, the implant heals and fuses with the existing bone over some months. When full osseointegration has been established a connectivity piece called an abutment is attached to allow for the final crown to be placed (cemented). One big advantage to this treatment option is that no other nearby teeth need to be altered during an implant placement. A dental implant can be a perfect solution for one missing tooth and multiple implants can replace multiple missing teeth. When talking, eating, and smiling an implant functions and looks like a natural tooth.
- Leaving “As Is”: When a tooth falls out or is extracted, eventually the bone will melt away and other nearby teeth will shift and move and start to fill in the space where the tooth was. Sometimes this gap can be a hard place to clean. Sometimes the gap will lead to other issues like further bone loss or decay. But “doing nothing” and allowing the mouth to adapt naturally to the missing tooth is an option.