Hopefully, you realize that your mouth works best when it’s full of teeth. To that end, you have a variety of options for replacing lost teeth, whether you’re missing one, several, or all of them. With today’s advanced techniques and materials, your replacement teeth can be custom-designed and carefully crafted to resemble your natural smile, offering a discrete solution to an often-conspicuous problem. Yet, there’s one thing that modern replacement teeth can’t accomplish without the help of one or more dental implants, and that’s preserve your long-term oral health.
Conventional Replacement Teeth
Choosing the right replacement teeth depends on the number of teeth you’ve lost and their pattern. For instance if you’ve lost one tooth, or a few teeth in a row, then a dental bridge can help close the gap they’ve created. However, if you’ve lost several teeth in non-adjacent spaces, a partial denture can be custom-designed to fit around your natural teeth that still remain. While these options are highly effective at replacing the visible parts of your teeth, they cannot replace the roots that extend below the gum line and into your jawbone for sturdy support.
Adding a Foundation
To resolve the issue of missing tooth roots, dental implants can be surgically inserted into your jawbone with a connective post on top to attach your replacement teeth. As the only prosthetic tooth root option, dental implants provide a lifelike, sturdy foundation that resembles your natural tooth’s complete structure. Together, dental implants and modern replacement teeth can help restore your mouth’s full function, preserve your continuing oral health, and improve your quality of life following tooth loss.
