Many things can cause one to lose their teeth. This can be an accident, or even genetics. Anything is the cause; the loss of teeth has an impact on your everyday life, speech and your self-esteem.
The problems of losing teeth
The neighbouring teeth lose their lateral support, making them lose stability and will start to lean towards one another. In the opposite dental arch, the opposite tooth will stand out from the dental arch because it does not have its “pair”. The normal contact between dental arches ceases. The decreased chewing ability can cause the decrease of digesting efficiency, upset stomach, problems with absorption, unnecessary diet (due to the loss of proper chewing ability). The jawbone will also recede due to the lack of use. In severe cases, even the gums and the complete jaw joint can become inflamed, which can affect our posture. In this case, not only implantation, but also bone grafting is necessary.
A healthy smile can largely help you to live a well-balanced and happy life. Luckily, today’s modern dentistry can offer you professional and innovative solutions for you to replace your missing tooth or teeth.
Dental gaps can be closed in many ways, depending on the location of the gap and why it is occurring. When the gap is not due to a missing tooth, it can be solved with the use of orthodontic braces. When it is not possible to correct with braces, we can take removable or fixed solutions into consideration aside for single implants or veneers. Commonly used ways also include veneers, implants, bridges or even partial dentures fixed or removable.
Solutions
Veneers: these are mostly recommended for front teeth. With this method, the teeth will be prepared and then glued onto the existing tooth, visibly closing the gap on the front.
Implant: implants can be used when one or more teeth are missing. After the implants have been implanted, the patient will receive a crown (one tooth is missing) or a bridge (more teeth are missing).
Bridge: Bridges can be built on natural teeth or onto implants. However, they should never be implanted on mixed bases, due to the structural differences between implants and natural teeth.
Removable or fixed dentures: dentures provide great solutions for extensive or complete lack of teeth. Removable dentures do not compare to fixed ones in terms of comfort, but are more affordable.
Partial removable dentures replace the missing teeth in a particular spot of the mouth. They connect to the natural teeth with either clasps or hidden anchors. We mostly use this method in extensive tooth-loss cases.
Complete removable dentures are used in case of a complete tooth loss. Since this solution cannot be fixated to natural teeth, it is more complicated to provide enough stability for the patients to be able to chew.
Implants are specially designed titanium screws, which are being screwed into the jawbone and serve as the root of a tooth. Later, dentures can be fixed to these implants. Dentures with implants provide a better fix therefore making the dentures more stable and secure.