Dental implants are rapidly becoming the treatment of choice for people who are missing one tooth or all their teeth. Dental implants never decay, they never need root canals, and they do not require that adjacent teeth be compromised. This last point is important, because the traditional “three-unit bridge” has been used for years to replace one missing tooth. With this type of treatment, the missing tooth is replaced but the adjacent teeth are used as anchors to keep the replacement tooth in place. The process involves grinding down adjacent teeth.
Dental implant treatment is very conservative, because one dental implant is a replacement for one missing tooth. For patients who need many teeth replaced, it is not necessary to replace every tooth with an implant. There are many options, including the use of dental implants to secure dentures.
In the long run, dental implant treatment is also more cost effective than a bridge. A significant percentage of conventional bridges need to be replaced over a period of time, but dental implants often last a life time.
