Lack of teeth

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A missing tooth is a phenomenon that scares people not only in scary dreams, but unfortunately also in reality. The reasons for the lack of teeth in the row are different. In most cases, they are consequences of neglected diseases or trauma to the jaw area. Modern dentistry involves various methods of restoring the tooth row, which differ in efficiency, cost, quality and durability of the result.

How to restore a missing tooth?

You can restore a missing tooth by means of prosthetics – removable or fixed, as well as implantation.

In case of missing teeth, removable prosthesis is used if there are contraindications to fixed prosthetics or as a temporary one, when teeth are extracted for the time of healing of the wells before implantation. End defects are also an option for patients who lack a large number of teeth and the condition of the existing teeth does not allow them to be used as a support. Removable prosthesis is quickly made, it is relatively inexpensive and has practically no contraindications. However, it is an orthopedic construction that will not let you forget about the lack of teeth: the denture must be removed for cleaning, treated with special solutions, regularly submitted to a dental laboratory for professional hygiene and rebasing.

Removable dentures can be used to restore any number of missing teeth – from one to the entire jaw. The main classification of products is soft and hard. Patients get used to the former more quickly, the latter are more durable and repairable.

• Non-removable prosthetics

Bridge prosthesis is the main technology for restoring missing teeth in the number of 1 to 3 consecutive units. In order to place a bridge, the defect must be included, i.e. there must be supporting teeth and the quality of the supporting teeth must be high. The placement of the bridge is preceded by depulping the supporting teeth, i.e. removing the nerve. Next, the doctor takes impressions, and the prosthetic structure is made in a dental laboratory from a material of the patient’s choice. The most popular solutions are metal-ceramic, all-ceramic or zirconium dioxide dentures. A composite adhesive is applied to the supporting teeth, and the prosthesis is fitted and fixed.

• Conditional removable prosthetics

In this case, the “conditionality” is that the doctor can remove the denture with a special tool, but the patient cannot. Conditionally removable dentures for their owners in terms of comfort are completely similar to fixed dentures, except for those cases when the structure must be unfastened for professional hygiene in the dental clinic 3-4 times a year. The rest of the time the denture does not cause any discomfort and does not need to be removed. Conditional removable dentures can be fixed on top of mini-implants or classical implants.

If the above methods do not suit you for any reason – you do not want to grind healthy teeth, you do not want to wear a removable denture and worry that it will shift or spoil diction, or any other physical or psycho-emotional aspects – there is a universal method. Implantation of teeth is the most progressive, reliable, durable option, after the use of which you can forget about the fact that you did not have a tooth for 20-30 years, or even for the rest of your life.

Implants can be used for prosthetics with any type of material, and the variety of methods will allow you to choose a protocol for each clinical case. For single defects, classical implantation is most often used, for a large number of missing teeth – single-phase implantation, for a completely edentulous jaw – single-phase or All-on-4 technology.

Comparison of methods