Missing Teeth

Even the loss of one single tooth can cause adverse changes in your mouth that may affect your dental health, your ability to chew comfortably and effectively, and even can affect your appearance.

Your teeth are in an equilibrium with each other and the soft and hard tissues of your mouth. When one or more teeth are missing, the remaining teeth can move out of their normal position. The teeth next to the space or from the opposite jaw will often drift or tilt as the teeth try to stay in contact with each other. These teeth can then be prone to tooth decay, gum disease and accelerated tooth wear.

All of this movement and wear causes changes in the bite and can result in the loss of more teeth: it has a compounding effect.  The remaining dentition, with less teeth, is more susceptible to further tooth wear and increased stress during function. In addition, the amount of bone in the jaw will reduce in response to the tooth loss. Not only your ability to eat properly, but also your appearance may be affected as the structures supporting the facial muscles and skin alter.

There are a number of options for replacing missing teeth:

Dental Implants

Dental implants are the closest treatment we have to replicate the natural teeth we are replacing. In addition to the general advantages of replacing a tooth, treatment with dental implants spares adjacent teeth and prevents further bone atrophy

Fixed Bridges

A bridge is best described as a number of crowns that are fixed together and cemented to the teeth adjacent to the missing teeth that are to be replaced. Bridges restore appearance and function and are bonded or cemented in position. In cases where adjacent teeth are heavily filled, or need crowns, a bridge may be the most sensible treatment option. If the adjacent teeth are not filled, then the preparation required to these teeth to make a bridge may increase the likelihood that these teeth will require root canal treatment in the future.

Removable Dentures

The cheapest alternative for replacing a number of missing teeth. Dentures can be acrylic based – with metal clasps to hold them to the remaining teeth or metal based with acrylic teeth. The metal based dentures are more comfortable and fit better. Dentures are removable – they are not fixed to the teeth.