One
of the biggest dilemmas facing many of our patients is what to do about my
missing teeth. As a dentist, the answer
is not always consistent or obvious. There
are four basic choices and none of the choices are right or wrong in every
instance. It depends on the size of the
space, your age, where it is in your mouth and how important the tooth is to
your overall dental health. Moving
between the choices from the least to the most expensive treatment, which
translates to the easiest to the hardiest (remember the dentist is like the
plumbers “time is money” thus the harder the job the more time it takes). We will start with the first treatment and
that is “oh well I lost my tooth.” Obviously
wisdom teeth or severely crowded areas of your mouth often fall into this
category and no treatment is necessary. Number 2 is a removable appliance of some
nature. That can be anything from a
simple tooth attached to a temporary retainer, to a chrome removable partial denture
with many teeth attached. If there are
large spaces, this is often the best choice as you pay by the appliance, and
not by the tooth. So if there are a lot
of missing teeth on the appliance, it isn’t more expensive. The downside to all removable appliances is
function. It is something in your mouth
that may be a little foreign to you. The
3rd choice is fixed bridgework in which “caps” are placed on either
side of the space and a “bridge” fills in the gap. Unlike the removable appliances you pay by the
tooth and it requires modification of your teeth for it to function. Thus there are Novocain shots and all the
other issues typically associated with dental procedures. The last options are dental implants which are
artificial roots that are placed in your jaw and a cap are attached to the
implant. This has the advantage of not
relying on other teeth for support, but once again you pay by the tooth. Although we restore several teeth each week
this way, a surgeon has to place the implants. As we all know specialists are not known for
being inexpensive, therefore the cost can exceed $3500.00 per tooth by the time
you are all done. Thus this process
often times is above our patient’s insurance coverage limits. Once again, all of these are just choices and
there is no consistently right or wrong answer to those choices as it is based
on individual needs and desires. But in
general the more expensive the process, the more it looks and functions like
your natural teeth. That being said,
implants are by far the most durable and functional therefore often times are
lifetime restorations and therefore are best choice if you can afford them.
