3 Missing Tooth Replacement Options for Every Budget
Missing teeth are no fun!
They make it hard to eat the foods you love. Your once straight teeth are starting to shift to fill the gap. You feel uncomfortable about being in photos because you’re embarrassed about your smile.
The good news:
There is a variety of missing tooth replacement options for every budget.
If you have missing teeth, here are three excellent ways to make your smile whole and healthy again!
But first, let’s talk about why it’s vital to your dental health to replace missing teeth.
Why replace missing teeth?
Losing a tooth can happen for a number of reasons such as accident, disease, or orthodontic extraction. Whatever the reason the result is the same, you’ve lost an essential part of your oral mechanism for chewing, speaking, and smiling.
Missing teeth can have some distressing and harmful consequences, such as:
- Slurred speech that’s difficult for others to understand
- Inadequate chewing of your food which can lead to digestive problems and malnourishment
- The disintegration of underlying bone tissue that can cause further tooth loss
- Misalignment of teeth and jaws causing TMJ disorder symptoms including pain
- Lack of self-confidence in business and social situations
As you can see, having a missing tooth can have adverse effects on your current health and can eventually develop into more severe and costly issues.
Taking the pro-active approach and doing something about your missing teeth now is the smart thing to do!
So, what can you do?
Missing tooth replacement options to try
At Croasdaile Dental Arts, our experienced Durham restorative dentists offer a few different comprehensive dentistry options for missing teeth.
Each is a good replacement and offers you the option of choosing the one that best fills your budget and time constraints.
Dental Bridges
A dental bridge is a prosthetic device that attaches to adjacent teeth and fills the gap left by the missing tooth or teeth with fabricated ones. These custom tooth restorations are molded and tinted to match and blend in with your natural teeth. Bridges can be removable or fixed.
A removable bridge that simply attaches to neighboring teeth by metal clasps or attachments is the most affordable option for missing teeth. It can easily be removed for cleaning and then clipped back into place.
A fixed bridge is attached to dental crowns on the abutment teeth. This is a good option if the adjacent teeth to your missing one are damaged enough to need dental crowns. The bridge is “fixed” in place and functions like your natural tooth.
A bridge typically takes a few weeks and a couple of dental visits to complete.
Dental Implants
Dental implants are the ultimate missing tooth replacement option because they restore the whole tooth from root to crown, not just the crown portion as bridges do.
An implant post is placed into the bone of the jaw, replacing the missing tooth root and capped with a natural-looking dental crown. Dental implants cost more than a dental bridge, but there are definite advantages that make them worth the added expense.
What are the advantages of implants?
- Stability
- Prevent bone tissue deterioration
- The closest thing to your natural tooth in looks, strength, and function
- Long-lasting
The dental implants process takes a few months to complete and requires repeated visits to our dental office.
Dental Crowns
A dental crown often makes up a part of missing tooth replacement options. A dental crown is a replacement tooth that is fabricated to look and feel like your natural tooth.
Our practice offers you the convenience of same-day crowns with our in-office milling machine, which can craft your new crown restoration while you wait. You can have a new, beautiful dental crown in just one visit.
Which tooth replacement option is right for you?
The best way to find out which option is the best one for you is for our patients from Durham, Raleigh, Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Mebane, Timberlake, Roxboro, Carrboro, and other nearby communities to schedule an appointment with one of our Durham dentists.
Just click the button below to make an online appointment.
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