Front Tooth Replacement

Losing a front tooth can be particularly distressing, as, after all, your smile is an important part of your personality. When you cannot smile, laugh and talk freely without feeling embarrassment, it can affect your self-esteem and self-confidence. Additionally, it is always important to replace any missing tooth as its loss can affect your remaining natural teeth, decreasing their stability and allowing them to drift out of position. This, in turn, can affect your bite. Here at Metropolitan Prosthodontics, we understand the distress caused by a missing front tooth and will provide you with compassionate and expert dental care to comfortably restore your smile.

What Are the Options for Replacing Front Teeth?

There are three possible options for replacing front teeth which are to use a flipper, to have a dental bridge, or to choose a long-lasting dental implant.

Dental Flipper

A flipper is generally only suitable as a temporary solution. It is essentially a one tooth denture that is created for cosmetic purposes, filling in the gap in your smile while you choose a more permanent solution. Although a flipper can look quite nice, it isn’t particularly stable, and you will not be able to bite down very easily.

Dental Bridge

The second option is to have a dental bridge which is supported by the teeth adjacent to the gap. These teeth must be crowned, and the dental crowns are attached to a false or replacement tooth called a pontic which creates a strong and stable restoration. This is a reasonable solution for tooth loss but the adjacent teeth which are called abutment teeth must be ground down in preparation for the dental bridge to be fitted. It is necessary to remove quite a substantial part of these teeth to create sufficient room for the crowns which prevents them from looking and feeling too bulky and unnatural. If the teeth adjacent to the gap are decayed, broken down, stained or discolored and could benefit from being crowned, choosing a dental bridge could be advantageous. However, if these teeth are strong and healthy a bridge will mean that your prosthodontist has to remove perfectly good tooth structure when reshaping these teeth. Once this tooth structure is removed it can only ever be artificially replaced.

While a dental bridge can provide a good aesthetic outcome, it’s important to remember that no dental restoration will last forever and that eventually, you will need to replace your dental bridge which will be at least a three-unit or three-tooth bridge. This is where the third solution can prove to be more cost-effective in the longer term. When you choose a dental implant, you will only be replacing the tooth that is missing so that when the time comes to replace your restoration, you will only need to budget for a single implant crown.

Dental Implant

A dental implant is the most sophisticated way to replace a missing front tooth and it can provide a highly aesthetic outcome. A single implant-supported crown looks amazingly natural because it will emerge from your gums just like a real tooth, rather than sitting on your gums which is the case with a bridge tooth or with a dental flipper. There will be no need for our prosthodontist to reshape the adjacent teeth and often a dental implant can be the healthiest way to restore a front tooth.

This is because a dental implant artificially replaces a tooth root which is extremely important for your dental health. When you bite down on a natural tooth then the sensations created pass right through the tooth, into the tooth root and out into the surrounding bone. These sensations tell your body that it must renew old bone cells in your jawbone whenever they need replacing. This ensures that your jawbone remains strong and healthy. When you lose a tooth, the sensations are automatically lost and when old bone cells die off they are no longer replaced. As a result, the density and volume of your jawbone gradually reduce, and this is part of the reason why people with dentures often struggle to wear them comfortably after a few years of tooth loss, and why tooth loss can have the effect of making facial features collapse inwards. Even when you lose just a single tooth, the bone loss can destabilize the adjacent teeth as they drift towards the empty space.

What to Expect When You Have a Dental Implant

When you have a dental implant, a titanium alloy implant post is inserted directly into your jawbone. This is a small surgical procedure that can be completed here in Metropolitan Prosthodontics by our prosthodontist, Dr. Christopher Sasik. There is no need to worry about traveling to another location as you will be treated by a dental team you already know and trust. If you do feel nervous, we can discuss using additional sedation, but it generally takes less than an hour to insert a single dental implant. Once the implant is in place it will need time to osseointegrate, a process where the implant post actually bonds with the bone as new bone cells grow on and around the post. This process can take several months during which time we can provide you with a temporary restoration, so you won’t be left without a smile. When Dr. Sasik is satisfied the post has fully healed, your new implant crown can be custom-made and will be custom designed to create a naturally beautiful appearance.

Who Can Have Dental Implants?

When you first visit Metropolitan Prosthodontics for your initial dental implant consultation, you will be carefully assessed for your suitability for dental implants. Most people will benefit from this treatment but there are some exceptions, for example, if you have any serious medical conditions that affect your immune system such as poorly controlled diabetes. If you smoke then it is far better to quit before you have your dental implant because smoking can affect healing, increasing the small chance of implant failure. Age isn’t generally a factor provided your permanent teeth and your jawbone has finished growing. This is why dental implant treatment isn’t suitable for children until they reach their late teens or even later.

Most people who opt for dental implants will find this treatment highly effective with success rates of 95% or higher. Dental implants have been widely used for several decades now and have been proven to be a long-lasting solution for tooth loss. Some people will even enjoy their dental implants for life. However, it’s important to look after dental implants. Although implant posts are made from inert materials, they are surrounded by living tissue that without proper oral hygiene can become infected. This can cause an infection similar to gum disease that without prompt treatment could ultimately lead to implant failure. The good news is that it’s very straightforward to look after dental implants, especially when they are in the front of your mouth. You can simply brush and floss single dental implants exactly as you would your natural teeth. Regular dental checkups and cleanings are also vital for keeping your dental implant strong and healthy.

Contact us today at Metropolitan Prosthodontics to find out more about tooth replacement options. We want to see you smiling with confidence!