If you are missing a single tooth, you may not be in a hurry to replace it. After all, you can still chew without too much difficulty. You might not even be worried about aesthetics. However, as you will learn on this page, replacing even one missing tooth is important. You will also learn about the treatments we provide that can furnish you with long-lasting, beautiful, and highly functional tooth replacement.
Why Choose New Haven Dental Group for Single Tooth Implants?
Convenient start to finish treatment in one location
Expansive team of dental experts
Beautiful, highly functional results
Importance of Replacing Missing Teeth
It is important to replace even one lost tooth for several reasons:
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Adjacent teeth may drift out of place. Teeth serve as placeholders for one another. When one tooth goes missing, nearby ones may move out of their proper alignment.
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Further tooth loss may occur. If you lose a bottom tooth, the one above it may extend too far out of the gum line and even be lost altogether.
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The jawbone deteriorates. When your jawbone no longer needs to support a tooth, your body begins to resorb the bone, causing it to become weaker and thinner.
Dental Restoration Options
There are basically two ways in which we can replace a single missing tooth:
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A fixed bridge, otherwise known as a crown and bridge, is a three-unit restoration. It consists of two crowns, which get placed on the teeth next to the empty space. They support a pontic (artificial tooth) between them.
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A single tooth dental implant is a small titanium post that gets inserted into the jawbone via a minimally invasive surgery. During the healing process, the bone and the implant form a strong bond. The implant is thus able to act as a substitute for the root of the lost tooth. A custom-made crown goes on top of the implant to replace the visible portion of the missing tooth.
The Dental Implant Process
The dental implant process starts with a consultation, wherein we will determine whether you are a candidate for dental implants. If you are, we will plan your implant placement surgery. After the dental implant is in your bone, you will need to go through a healing period of several months so that osseointegration (the process of the bone and implant bonding together) can take place. Following osseointegration, we will design and place your permanent crown.
Benefits of Dental Implant Tooth Replacement
Although either a fixed bridge or a dental implant can provide reliable tooth replacement, we strongly recommend an implant as the superior solution because:
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A dental implant stimulates the bone and helps it to remain whole and strong. A fixed bridge does not do that.
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Because a dental implant is self-supporting, placing one does not usually require that the nearby teeth be modified in any way. Placing a fixed bridge requires that the supporting tooth be significantly filed down in order to fit beneath their crowns.
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A dental implant can last a lifetime, whereas a crown may last for just 10 years or so.
Would you like to learn more about your single tooth replacement options? Contact New Haven Dental Group today.
