If you lose a tooth to injury or disease, you must replace it, preferably sooner rather than later. The most likely option is either a dental implant or a dental bridge. Making the right choice is far easier when you know more about each solution.
What Is a Dental Implant?
An implant is the closest thing to restoring a natural tooth. It artificially replaces your real tooth root with a titanium or zirconia post. The post is inserted into your jawbone, which soon fuses with the bone around it, forming a solid anchorage point for a new dental implant crown in Ajax.
Why Choose a Dental Implant?
The most significant advantage of choosing a dental implant is that it can last a lifetime if inserted correctly, and you look after it properly. It is highly cost-effective because it can be a long-term solution, even though treatment can be slightly more initially than other options.
A dental implant can look incredibly natural, function like a real tooth, and restore your ability to bite and chew food. If aesthetics are important to you, for example, when replacing a front tooth in Whitby, a dental implant might be the optimal choice.
Another advantage of choosing a dental implant in Pickering is its protective effect on your jawbone. When you lose a tooth, the bone around the empty socket soon deteriorates and resorbs. Dental implants provide a similar stimulation to real tooth roots, preserving your natural bone and helping to prevent bone loss.
A dental implant is a self-supporting prosthesis that doesn’t strain existing teeth or require any modifications to these teeth. Instead, it shares the pressure created when you bite and chew food, helping to protect adjacent teeth from excess wear and tear.
While dental implants are often an excellent solution, some people are concerned about the surgical procedure needed. Inserting a single implant is extremely short and takes around an hour. Here at Durham Dental Solutions, we use computer-guided surgery, ensuring each implant is inserted into precisely the correct position during a quicker and smoother surgery that is preplanned.
What Is a Dental Bridge?
When you have a bridge, it fills the gap created by one or more lost teeth adjacent to each other. The bridge is supported by crowns fitted over existing teeth and attached to replacement teeth called pontics. Usually, a dental bridge requires an abutment tooth on each side of the gap to help evenly spread and absorb the force created when you bite and chew food.
Why Choose a Dental Bridge?
One advantage of choosing a dental bridge is that it is a straightforward procedure. Unlike a dental implant in Oshawa, surgery isn’t needed, and treatment may be complete in a few weeks. A dental bridge is initially cheaper than a dental implant to replace a missing tooth.
However, this affordability can change when you need to replace the bridge because you will need to replace a prosthesis that covers a minimum of three teeth rather than a single implant crown in Newcastle. Another downside of choosing a dental bridge is that the adjacent teeth must be substantially reshaped, where your dentist in Clarington will remove a considerable portion of the tooth structure to make room for the dental crowns. It can be a good option if these teeth are already unhealthy and will benefit from being covered with a crown, but it is less desirable if the abutment teeth are strong and healthy.
It can be tricky, but our dental implant dentist in Courtice can discuss all possible solutions in more detail, considering your oral health so that you can make the right choice for your needs.
