Dental implants are rapidly becoming the gold standard of care for replacing missing teeth, thus relegating all other treatment options to very unique or special situations.

 

Although dental implant treatment may initially be more expensive than other treatment methods, it often turns out to be the best investment from a long term perspective since most patients can expect them to last a life time. Other treatment methods like bridges and dentures often requires regular alterations and adjustments over time.

When considering a dental implant vs. a bridge, we must take the following factors into account:

 

• Tooth Preservation: a bridge requires placing crowns on the adjacent teeth. A dental implant avoids involving the teeth on either side, and this is the main advantage.

• Improved oral health: Dental implants do not affect your other healthy teeth; more of your own teeth are left intact. A bridge, on the other hand, may require the cutting down of healthy, adjacent teeth in order to support the bridge structure.

 

• Jaw Bone resorption: When a bridge is used, the jaw bone undergoes over time a process called resorption that results in the loss of bone strength and stability, because a tooth is no longer placing pressure on the underlying structure. The bone is not stimulated and begins to shrink away. With dental implants, the normal pressure that teeth exert is retained.

 

• Esthetics: When comparing a bridge to a dental implant, the conclusion is clear: Dental implants always look better than bridges.

 

• Durability: A dental bridge has a life expectancy of approximately 10 years. Dental implants bond to the jaw bone and become part of it. This connection is as strong as a natural tooth root. When using a bridge, you support the structure on natural teeth that are still vulnerable to decay and other diseases. Dental implants on the other hand, cannot develop any diseases since they are made of titanium.

 

• Oral hygiene: Individual dental implants allow easier access between teeth, enabling everyday normal dental care. Flossing bridges is not an easy task and requires time and patience, making it a tiresome process.

 

• Price: Despite the fact that the price of a bridge is less than that of a dental implant, in the long term, one realizes that dental implants will be a cheaper option after all, because of less maintenance, higher durability and less chance of complications. Bridges generally will cause additional expenses down the road.

 

 

 

SO ... AFTER CONSIDERING BRIDGES VS DENTAL IMPLANTS, AND TAKING ALL THE FACTORS INTO ACCOUNT, IT IS CLEAR THAT DENTAL IMPLANTS ARE THE BETTER CHOICE.