Implants or Bridges: Which is Best for Me?

Trauma, gum disease, or decay can cause the loss of teeth. If you count yourself among the over 120 million Americans missing at least one tooth, you know what a toll it can take on your health and self-confidence.

The process of replacing missing teeth isn’t always easy to figure out. While it’s great to have options, how do you know the best replacement option for you? In this blog, Ginger Rome, DDS, at The Dentists at North Cypress in Houston, Texas, shares her insights on two popular tooth replacement options – implants and bridges.

Implants versus bridges

Implants and bridges are great options for replacing missing teeth. The treatment process for getting either treatment begins with your dentist performing a comprehensive examination, X-rays if needed, and a medical history.

Patient preference factors into the decision, however, many considerations come into play that may tip the scale in either direction, including:

• The location and number of missing teeth
• The health of your teeth, gums, and jawbone
• Your overall health
• Whether you have diabetes or other illnesses that affect healing

After evaluating these factors, your dentist makes recommendations based on this data. 

Implants are fast becoming the gold standard

Dental implants are artificial teeth that a trained dentist surgically places in the jawbone. Dental implants can replace one, several, or an entire mouth of teeth. Since they become a part of your mouth and look and function like your healthy teeth once did, dental implants are becoming the gold standard for replacing missing teeth   

Requires 6 to 12 months

The treatment plan for getting dental implants takes several appointments throughout six to 12 months. At your first appointment, The Dentists at North Cypress team do a thorough oral physical exam, and X-rays, as needed, to evaluate your oral health, and determine if you have enough quality bone density to support dental implants.

If everything checks out, your dentist administers an anesthetic, and surgically places a titanium screw or post into each empty tooth socket. Once completed, your dentist sends you home with a prescription for antibiotics and post-op instructions. Now, your body takes over, and natural healing kicks in.

Over the next three or four months, the titanium posts heal in place and fuse to your jawbone through osseointegration. When healing is completed, you return to the office. During this appointment, your provider makes impressions of your mouth, which they send along with color-matching data to a dental laboratory that fabricates your custom crown, replicating the tooth that was once there.

When the crown returns from the dental lab a week or two later, you come in for your last appointment. Your dentist places a crown on the top of each titanium screw and checks your bite, and off you go to enjoy the ultimate do-over. 

Bridges close a gap with quicker treatment time

A bridge, also called a dental bridge, is a viable tooth replacement option if you’re missing one or more teeth and can replace a row of missing teeth. As its name implies, a bridge closes the gap between missing teeth by using artificial teeth, which suspend between two healthy teeth on either side of the gap.

Great for less noticeable locations

A bridge is useful when the missing tooth is in the back of your mouth or a place not noticeable when you smile. Similar to implants, the bridge treatment plan also involves crowns, but in this case, the entire treatment process happens in a much shorter timeline.

After deeming you a good candidate for a bridge, your provider cleans your teeth and performs a dental exam with digital X-rays. After deciding what type of bridge to use, the prep phase of treatment begins. Your dentist first administers a local anesthetic and then takes a thin layer from the enamel of the healthy anchor that will receive crowns.

Next, your provider takes digital impressions and sends this data to a dental lab that fabricates your custom bridge and crowns. Two to three weeks later, when your restorations are back from the lab, you return for your final appointment. After checking the fit, your dentist installs the crowns and bonds the bridge. Not only will you have a restored smile, but within an hour after your appointment, you can start eating and drinking.

If you are missing teeth and want to learn about implants and bridges, contact The Dentists at North Cypress by calling us today or scheduling an appointment online.