Replacing Missing Teeth with Dental Implant Procedures

Dental implant procedures represent the most advanced forms of tooth restoration. Mimicking the anatomical function of natural tooth roots, dental implants come with a high long-term success rate and can be maintained for a lifetime in many cases. If you need to replace a missing tooth in San Mateo, or even an entire arch or all the teeth in your mouth, a dental implant procedure can give you the outcome that you desire.

At Peninsula Oral and Facial Surgery, you will benefit from our surgeons’ detailed and precise approach, resulting in a restoration that is aesthetically and functionally flawless. Learn about your different options with dental implant procedures and book your consultation for a new smile today.

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Tooth Replacement Options

In modern dentistry, there are two broad categories of strategies to replace teeth, fixed and removable. Fixed options do not come in and out of your mouth and provide the superior function and convenience of natural teeth. There are two fixed options to restore teeth, a bridge and a dental implant. Dental implants are the gold standard for tooth restoration because they most closely mimic a natural tooth and do not depend on the adjacent teeth for support. :

Fixed Tooth Replacement Options

Removable Tooth Replacement Options

There are also several removable options for replacing teeth. Removable options come in and out of the mouth in order to be cleaned. Their removable nature can make them unstable and difficult to chew with for some people. However, they can be a more cost effective option to replacing multiple missing teeth.

Flipper Denture – This inexpensive solution is usually a temporary option to treat a missing tooth. A single resin tooth attached to a plastic retainer is worn to fill the space left by tooth loss.
Metal Partial Denture – A more permanent solution, this option uses a removable denture made from plastic and metal. It is held in place by clips on healthy teeth. It is removable and doesn’t provide the best aesthetic. It also does nothing to address the loss of a tooth root in the jaw. When this is used to replace a single tooth, it is referred to a single tooth denture.
Full Denture – If you’ve lost an entire arch, you can wear a full denture. This sits on the gums and can be held in place (temporarily) with dental adhesive. A full denture can be uncomfortable and needs to be removed daily for cleaning. Because it sits on the gums, it doesn’t restore full bite force, so your diet will be limited.

One of the first things you’ll think about when losing a tooth is how it will affect your appearance. Tooth loss can be embarrassing, sapping your confidence, and making you afraid to smile. A bridge, or even a single tooth denture, could restore your smile and your confidence, but only a dental implant procedure will give you a functional equivalent to a natural tooth.

If you don’t replace a missing tooth in San Mateo, a few things will occur…

Without a root in place, the jaw will start to deteriorate. The bone will shrink to a point where it can be difficult to act as the foundation for an implant in the future or even compromise the support of the surrounding teeth, which can increase the risk for further tooth loss. You can replace a missing tooth in San Mateo to help prevent this.
Problems also develop above the gum line. Teeth naturally push toward one another. The entire smile needs to be intact to prevent tooth movement. With a missing tooth, the surrounding teeth will push toward the empty space. This can cause problems with alignment and your bite and increases the risk of tooth loss and orthodontic problems.
The risk of bacteria and plaque building up around teeth and gums increases when you don’t replace a missing tooth in San Mateo.

Considering this, it’s quite obvious why it’s necessary to replace a missing tooth in San Mateo, but not all restoration options are equal. Even with dental bridges and single tooth dentures, density in the jawbone will be lost. A dental implant procedure is the only way to stimulate the root, preserve the jaw, and restore the function and aesthetic of your smile.

Dentures have traditionally been used to treat tooth loss, and they provide adequate function in many cases. A single tooth denture has the advantage of being more affordable than an implant, but it’s not functionally the same. A single tooth denture will fill the space left by a missing tooth and can restore most of the function of your bite. But, because a single tooth denture does nothing to treat tooth loss below the gum line, there’s the risk of deterioration in the jaw that could compromise other teeth.

When dentures are placed to treat extensive tooth loss, such as an entire arch, the problem becomes much worse. The jawbone will deteriorate, and you’ll lose a lot of the function of your bite.

For the most attractive, stable, and anatomically functional restoration, dental implants have no competition. Book your consultation at Peninsula Oral and Facial Surgery by calling 650-342-0213 and see how a dental implant procedure could be life-changing. You can have a designer smile that is functionally equivalent to natural, healthy teeth.

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