Dental Implants or Fixed Bridges: Treatment for Missing Teeth
Missing teeth in your smile can affect not only your aesthetics, but your oral health as well. It’s important to understand the restoration options provided that can replace the missing spaces in your smile. With great advancements in dentistry, and use of aesthetic materials, restoring missing teeth and your oral health is possible. Dental implants and fixed bridges are two treatment options for missing teeth, and are provided by our dedicated dentists at Total Family dental Group. In this blog post, we will go through the advantages and disadvantages of each treatment, to help you determine the best replacement for your missing teeth.
Treatment Process
Although both treatments are permanent fixtures in your smile, they each have different process in which they’re placed.
Fixed dental bridges utilize three conjoined porcelain crowns to replace a tooth. Treatment consists of altering the adjacent, healthy teeth so that they serve as support of the fake tooth, or the pontic. The placement of this restoration can be done in office and may take two appointments, as the final restoration may take a week to be fabricated.
Made up of three individual parts to replace the entire missing tooth, dental implants replicate the tooth root and are topped with a fixed restoration that acts as the exposed tooth. Dental implant placement consists of an in depth evaluation of your jaw bone density and health of your gums. Once this is determined, an experienced oral surgeon can place the titanium post into the jaw. Unlike dental bridges, dental implant placement takes a significant amount of time, about 6 months, to ensure jaw bone is fully integrated and your supporting structures have healed properly. You will receive a temporary restoration to cover the exposed dental implant, and once the healing process has been completed, your final restoration will be placed.
Amount of Teeth Replaced
Fixed dental bridges are a perfect treatment option for patients with one or missing teeth. With various bridge types, such as cantilever bridges which utilizes only one abutment tooth or Maryland bridges, which utilize metal framework bonded to the backs of neighboring teeth, but doesn’t require their alteration or filing, there are opportunities to replace missing teeth.
Dental implants can replace one missing tooth to a full arch of missing teeth. Dental implants can be utilized for individual missing teeth, or support porcelain bridges or relined dentures for multiple tooth replacement. Depending on the number of implants you’d like, there are various restoration options for you, and at no alteration of neighboring healthy teeth. Speak with your oral surgeon and dental implant specialists on the best implant supported restoration for you.
Contact Us Today
At Total Family Dental Group, we provide dental implant solutions, as well as fixed dental bridges, for those missing teeth in their smile. For more information about our restoration and dental implant treatments, contact our practice to schedule a consultation today.