Missing teeth can be an uncomfortable situation. It can hinder people from wanting to smile. It can make people not want to be in social situations. Your speech can be impeded due to the spaces in your mouth. However, there are many options to help with missing teeth, both permanent and non-permanent.
Permanent options:
Tooth supported fixed bridge. A tooth supported fixed bridge is when the teeth adjacent to the missing tooth are prepared to have crowns placed on them, attached to a middle tooth to fill in the space where the missing tooth was. This is a very common way to fix missing teeth. It makes eating and speaking easy and natural because the bridge is fixed and won’t move around.
Implant. Implants are when a post is drilled into the bone where the tooth is missing, and a crown is placed on the post. There is no damage done to any of the surrounding teeth, so this is a conservative way to fix the exact spot where the tooth or teeth are missing.
Non-Permanent options:
- Removable partial dentures. This is a great option when you are missing a small number of teeth. Partial dentures are just as the name says, dentures that you can remove. These can be taken out of your mouth very easily so that they can be cleaned. Partial dentures typically have a plastic base that matches the shade of your gums, and have replacement teeth fixed to the base. The plastic base usually has a metal frame to it that has some type of a clasp that attaches to the surrounding teeth.
- Removable complete denture. This is an excellent option if you are missing all of either your upper or lower teeth. It is also an option if you are missing ALL of your teeth and don’t want to undergo surgery to have a full mouth of implants done. A complete denture would be a plastic base with a full set of teeth fixed to look like real teeth.
Whatever option you decide should be discussed with your dentist to help figure out which one would be the best situation for your mouth. They can answer any questions that you might have.