How Many Dental Implants Am I Going To Need?
Anyone who knows anything about dental implants in Richmond will know that they’re designed as a direct replacement for missing teeth, so one missing tooth equals one replacement. That’s pretty straight forward, but what about when a patient has two or three missing teeth or entire rows of missing teeth? What happens then? Let’s take a closer look.
What about two or three missing teeth together?
When a patient has two or three missing teeth together they have several options open to them. Firstly to replace two teeth the dentist might opt for two separate implants or alternatively they might opt for one implant and to cantilever another prosthetic tooth off this. For three missing teeth the dentist may opt for an implant supported bridge. In this instance, two standard implants might be fitted at either end of the gap with a supporting dummy tooth filing the centre gap. However the dentist will usually assess the situation and make a decision based on criteria such as positioning, loading, and strength.
What about 4 missing teeth?
If a patient has 4 adjacent missing teeth, again the dentist has options. He may decide to place an implant in the first available gap and to cantilever a dummy tooth off this. Next to the dummy tooth another implant might be placed giving the centre dummy tooth more security,with the final dummy tooth being cantilevered off this. However if the missing teeth are further back in the mouth the configuration preferred is normally two dental implants, a dummy tooth and then a final dental implant.
So what about an entire row?
The good news (especially from a cost point of view) is that any patient who is missing an entire row of teeth doesn’t have to have 16 or so dental implants. Instead they can opt for a procedure known as ‘All On 4’. The All on 4 technique is the minimum amount of strategically placed implants needed to support a whole row of teeth. However normally patients will be looking at 6 implants coupled with adjacent dummy teeth in the lower jaw and 8 in the upper jaw to restore that perfect smile. Alternatively a patient can also opt for an implant retained denture. This is a removable denture that’s fixed into position by two to four dental implants. Similarly to conventional dentures they can easily be removed for cleaning etc, except they rely on the implants rather than fixatives or adhesives to keep them in place. The advantage of course is that because the denture is clipped into position here’s no possibility of embarrassing and sometimes painful denture slippage.
As you can see, when you opt for dental implants in Richmond, or indeed anywhere in the UK, you’ll have options open to you. If you’d like to discuss those options further then we invite you to book yourself a free, no-obligation consultation. To make an appointment you can either visit our website at www.sheendentalimplants.co.uk or alternatively you can contact us directly on 020 8876 5277. On behalf of Dr Harmit Kalsi and the team, we very much look forward to meeting you.