Implants
Implants are used to replace one or more missing teeth. An implant is placed in the bone and once fused provides support for a new crown or attachment to support a denture.
These are very strong, and are the best replacements for lost teeth. Once in place in the majority of cases are likely to last a person's lifetime.
Not everyone is suitable for these, because of medical conditions or previous treatment with radiotherapy. Some have so little bone that an implant may not be possible. Sometimes bone can be added to allow an implant to be fixed, but this requires an additional operation, increasing the costs further.
The number of people requesting implants is too low to justify offering this treatment at the practice, so we would refer to specialists, who are carrying out several of these procedures each week.
Implants Pros and Cons
Pros
- Strong, the best replacement for a missing tooth
- adjacent natural teeth are unaffected
Cons
- Cost about £2000 each, more if bone placement is required.
- May not be suitable without bone grafting.
- They may fail to attach to bone
- They may develop gum disease the same as natural teeth and eventually be lost
- They require meticulous cleaning to reduce the risk of loss
- Appearance of the gum line may not be as good as natural teeth