Tackling Your Dental Treatment Plan

When you lose a tooth, you not only lose your ability to chew at the extraction site. Missing teeth can also affect the alignment of the other teeth in your mouth. Teeth serve as placeholders for other teeth by eliminating space needed for teeth to shift out place. Thus, when a tooth is lost, there may be enough room in the mouth to allow remaining teeth to start to migrate. This movement from their original position can cause the teeth to become misaligned. Still, the shifting of the teeth takes place over time. Thus, if a lost tooth is promptly replaced, misalignment can be avoided. Here are two tooth replacement options that can help preserve dental alignment:

Dental Bridges

Dental bridges are teeth replacement appliances that consist of one or more false teeth bordered by two dental crowns. The bridge is secured in the mouth by the bonding of the crowns to remaining natural teeth that border the gap left by a missing tooth.

Once the bridge is in place, the crowns and the false teeth of the bridge prevent the teeth from moving. The bridge crowns that cover the teeth prevent their movement, since the crowns are firmly attached to the solid structure of the bridge. In addition, the false tooth in the center of the bridge fills the gap left by the lost tooth.

Dental bridges usually last at least 15 years, so if cared for properly, the bridge offers a long-term solution to tooth replacement.

Dental Implants

Dental implants can also keep other teeth from shifting. When a tooth is lost, a dental implant can fill the space beneath and above the gum line.

The implant is actually a metallic rod or screw that is surgically drilled into the patient's jawbone. Once installed, the dental implant heals over a period of months. During this time, the bone of the jaw connects to the metal implant. This fusion or connection makes the implant as stable inside the bone implant as a natural tooth would be.

To complete the dental restoration, a connector or abutment is added to the implant to allow the attachment of a dental crown. Once a dental crown is in place, the missing tooth is fully restored.

If a gap in the mouth is left in place long enough to because remaining teeth to shift, the misalignment may be corrected using an orthodontic appliance. However, the additional space in the mouth must be filmed to prevent the misalignment from recurring. Thus, it is best to have a gap from a missing tooth filled as soon as possible.

If you have a missing tooth, schedule a consultation with a dental service in your area, such as Tijeras Dental Service.