It is safe to assume that as a middle-aged American, you might be more than a bit concerned about your missing teeth. Well, if it’s any consolation, you can take solace from the fact the American adults falling into the 35-49 age group are on average missing as many as seven teeth. Typically, the seven missing teeth include the four wisdom teeth, but that still leaves no fewer than three other teeth missing. This article is meant for such people looking for effective teeth replacement for even if you want to counsel someone looking for such teeth replacement.
Dental implants are perhaps the best options open to such people in various ways, including your oral and general health, besides serving as an adequate replacement for your natural teeth. However, this is in no way mean that they better natural teeth, which they don’t. It’s just that they are a viable albeit expensive alternative like the other options covered below. People with inadequate financial resources to replace missing teeth can always opt for the exercise at a financially better time. Without further ado, let’s get down to the most popular options teeth replacement options open to you:
Dental Implants
What makes dental implants stand out is the unique design they sport meant to stand in for teeth’ natural roots. This variety of dental implants finds its place in a person’s jawbone. It serves to replace or restore the crown or denture, or dental bridge. Dental implants are best for missing teeth due to oral health problems like periodontal disease and others or loss of teeth caused by injuries.
Pros:
- More than 95% success rate
- Success rates of treatment are more than 95%
- Robust and permanent solution
- Maintenance involves simply looking after oral hygiene and going for check-ups and cleanings to your dentist.
- Best aesthetic, comfortable, and nature-like solution
- It is the only option if you want to prevent the loss of jawbone.
- Adjacent teeth need not be modified.
- A long lifespan makes it more cost-effective.
- It can be more cost-effective in the longer term due to the long lifespan of the treatment.
Cons
- Involves surgical intervention.
- An extended treatment period and frequent visits to the dentist is necessary.
- Quite expensive
Dentures Supported Buy All-on-Four Implants
It is a fact that the entirety of the lower part of full-arch dentures can be supported by using as few as four implants. The number of implants required by the upper dentures stands at six, and patients who choose this teeth replacement option have their front two teeth replaced by implants in the frontal arch. The other two all on 4 dental implants are fitted at a forty-five-degree angle tilt on either side at the mouth’s back. The implants use special attachments so that the overdenture clips to the sitting surface.
Pros:
- It involves a lower number of implants making them more affordable.
- Provides greater strength and stability than dentures.
- You can enjoy more food types than conventional dentures.
- Palates are not necessary, which makes the solution compact and thereby adding to the enjoyability of food items.
- They are easy to clean by removing the same.
Cons:
- Some find the ability to remove dentures to be unwanted.
- Be careful while eating as hard or chewy food might potentially damage the denture.
- Such teeth replacement involves components that need to be attached on need regular maintenance and periodic replacement.
Fixed Bridge Teeth Replacement Supported By Implants
Implant-supported fixed bridges do away with the necessity to replace teeth with implants individually. Instead, it works to restore several missing teeth, and you can even replace a complete teeth arch with this option. The exact number of implants you need depends on the implant type and the number of teeth you need to restore. In terms of appearance, fixed bridges supported by implants are pretty akin to the fixed-bridge varieties of teeth replacement supported by tooth instead. The dentist can choose to screw the implant in the appropriate area or cement the same. When the bridges are screwed into the implants, cleaning or repairing is relatively easy by making it easily retrievable. Holes left by the screws are almost invisible due to tooth-colored composite resin covered by bridges.
Pros:
- Aesthetically appealing
- Natural look, feel, and functions.
- Easy maintenance, you can brush or floss it
- Relatively affordable cost
- Long lifespan
- The healthy teeth remain unaffected by the whole procedure
Cons:
- It only works for missing teeth that are located next to each other
- It can be pretty expensive when you have to replace an entire arch of teeth
- Time-consuming treatment process requiring more visits to dentists
- Surgical intervention, albeit a minor one, is involved
Tooth-Supported Fixed Bridge
You will find such a fixed bridge that is supported by tooth rather than its commoner alternative-implants. The statement is particularly true where a single tooth needs to be replaced or restored. Such fixed-bridge tooth is characterized by their two crowns placed on both sides of the gap caused missing teeth, and they work as an abutment or supporting teeth. In dental parlance, supporting crowns are referred to as pontics, and dentists attach them to the replacement teeth. This type of tooth replacement solution is a permanent solution and is cemented to their particular locations. There are a large number of pontics materials. They include:
- Alloys made from precious metals
- Gold
- Porcelain
- Or in some cases of combination of all of the materials mentioned above
Pros:
- Their functionality and feeling of use mimic that of natural teeth closely.
- The dental procedure is simple and can be completed within the course of two or three weeks.
- Ease of maintaining the replacements- you can brush and floss the same.
- Affordable and costs less than implants.
- Low-risk teeth replacement treatment. In cases the bridge fails, it can usually replace it swiftly and painlessly.
Cons:
- Affordable but still costs more than removable dentures
- The tooth structure of otherwise healthy teeth that lie beside the bridge needs to be modified, which means you replace healthy teeth with artificial ones.
- The risks of tooth decay and infection become more remarkable due to how teeth are ground down during this procedure.
- Cleaning the surface under the pontic is necessary as it could otherwise turn into a food trap.
- It does not stimulate the bone under the bridge
- It does not have a long lifespan compared to implant-supported bridges
Removable Partial Denture
A single tooth or several teeth can be replaced by a removable partial denture. The distinguishing feature of such dentures is that the teeth need not necessarily be adjacent to each other. Still, they do lie of the same teeth arch. The denture structure is formed by an acrylic base that may or may not is further strengthened by a cobalt chrome metal framework. Typically, such dentures come with fitting metal clips that hold in place the dentures. This ensures that not only that the dentures remain firm while remaining eminently removable. Certain types of such dentures are constituted elastic varieties of nylon. The gum-colored nylon clasps ensure minimum visibility of the part.
Pros:
- More affordable than implants or fixed bridges
- Works excellent for smiles and fills in missing teeth and their gaps effectively
- As a result of restoring missing teeth, your ability to talk is significantly enhanced
- It might be possible to add other teeth to the denture
- A quick and non-invasive procedure
Cons:
- They might feel uncomfortable and maybe, at times, unstable.
- Artificial looks and inadequate functionality
- You will need to remove it every night and clean it thoroughly. It is necessary for giving scope for your gums to recover.
- You will need .to replace and reline the dentures frequently.
- Such types of dentures are particularly fragile and may break easily. However, nylon dentures are an exception to this rule.
- You can quickly lose or misplace parts of the denture.
Removable Complete Dentures
Such varieties of dentures are placed on top of a person’s gums. Removable Complete Dentures are pretty affordable, and further do not involve surgery or any invasive procedure. The dentures themselves comprise an acrylic base in your gum color, and all of the teeth remain attached to the same.
Pros:
- Works excellent to boost appearance and confidence.
- It helps to support lip and cheek muscles and restoring facial details.
- It gives the ability for proper speech and to eat with greater comfort.
- Affordable and fast treatment.
- Natural looks arise out of a variety of available colors, shapes, and sizes. Additionally, there are plenty of gum tissue options, and you can choose one that suits you the best.
- You can even readjust it if your jawbone shape changes.
Cons:
- The jawbone shape is not something static, and accordingly, such dentures are prone to get ill-fitting.
- You stand to damage your dentures if you eat hard or sticky foods
- You must take them out at night both to clean them as well as aid in gum recovery
- It may increase the pace of jaw bone loss as a result of the denture’s pressure
- Your food taste may be affected
- The dentures can at times rub off on your gums, thereby causing sore spots
- The adhesives that come with such dentures tend to cause a mess
- They are not a permanent solution
- They make an embarrassing clicking sound as you speak
Resin-Bonded Bridge
Also referred to as Rochette bridge or a Maryland bridge, such teeth bridges are bonded by resins and are suitable solely to serve as front teeth replacement. Such limitations are due to the bridge’s fragile nature, which is not strong enough for the intensity of the forces caused by the chewing of the back teeth. This type of teeth bridge has two wings that remain attached to the surface of teeth braces nearest to the tongue surface. The wings themselves stay affixed to the pontic or the replacement tooth.
While your abutment or braced teeth need necessarily be solid and healthy. Usually, your dentist will not need to fiddle around with their shapes to any significant extent. However, at times dentists do indeed remove a tiny amount of your tooth’s enamel. Such removal will result in a bit of rougher tooth surface, which will help strengthen the bond between the bridge and tooth.
Such bridged teeth come with holes drilled deep into the wings that work to enhance the retention. In many ways, this type of bridged teeth is a better alternative to removable dentures. Still, it lacks in strength and longevity of fixed bridges and dental implants’ functionality.
Pros:
- Affordable, and it is a minimally invasive procedure that fixed bridges.
- Fixes problems with smiling, eating, and speaking.
- It provides adequate support to your lips.
- Ensures that your healthy teeth don’t drift from their proper positions.
Cons:
- Such bridges are fragile, making them suitable only for front teeth.
- If you eat tough food, it might lead to your bridge separating from your teeth. In such cases, the dentist will recement the same.
- Its fragility shortens its life span.
Flipper Temporary Teeth Replacement
The term flipper tooth refers to partial dentures that can serve as teeth replacement for one or more missing one’s. Flipper’s teeth are meant to be temporary and work to fill in gaps in your teeth. It lets you talk and smile without being self-conscious. However, it is meant to serve only as a temporary replacement until a more permanent solution can be found.
Pros:
- It is affordable.
- Dental experts create Flippers before extracting a tooth. The fittings are made after the removal of the natural tooth.
- You need to visit the dentist only once or twice.
- They are light, and you can quickly wear them. Further, they are friendly towards the mouth insides.
Cons:
- Flippers are neither stable nor strong
- Their fragility makes them prone to damage and breakage.
- They tend to be bulky, making them unsuitable for day-long wear.
Those were the most popular options for people with missing teeth. Of course, Another option is always open to you, and it is to do nothing about your missing teeth. In many cases, missing teeth doesn’t cause that much discomfort, and you can indeed do without any action. But for most instances of people having missing teeth, it would help if you got them replaced.