Traditional Dental Bridges Are History
Can you believe that dental bridges have been around for over a century? Well it’s true. Now we’re not saying that dental bridges have had their day because they’ve been around for so long. Many of us like vintage cars for example, but that doesn’t mean we’d choose to drive them to work every day. For one thing it wouldn’t be economical and it wouldn’t do the environment much good either! Well the same thing can be said for fitting dental bridges. Let’s explain:
Mounting costs
The thing is, in order for a dental bridge to be fitted it involves grinding down the teeth on either side of the gap where the missing teeth once were. That’s right…… healthy teeth have to be modified in order to secure the bridge.
So, by installing the bridge, the procedure is actually weakening what were once two healthy teeth and then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, the bridge spends the rest of its life leaning on those teeth for support. It’s a bit like a parasite living on another organism and benefiting from taking its nutrition at the organism’s expense. That’s hardly good for the environment.
The extra pressure put on these two teeth is likely to lead to them failing in the future, so in effect one lost tooth leads to the loss of a further two teeth.. and so the costs mount up.
Bone loss continues
What many people don’t realise is that while a dental bridge fills the gap, gum shrinkage and bone loss continues to take place and this eventually leads to the gum ‘dipping’ above the bridge tooth or at worst, a black hole or gap appears giving everyone no doubt at all as to where your false tooth lies.
So what’s the answer?
Quite simply, it’s a dental implant. In Richmond, at Sheen Dental we’ve been fitting implants to the mouths of our patients for many years and the fact that they stand alone without support from other teeth, means we can use them in a variety of ways. Furthermore, the titanium implant takes on the role of the missing tooth root and bonds with the surrounding bone and soft tissue to form a super strong foundation which keeps the implant in place and also stimulates the bone to keep it healthy and strong. So no more shrinkage!
The costs and benefits of a dental implant are way to good to ignore, which is why we say let’s put the traditional dental bridge out to graze once and for all.
If you’re interested in getting dental implants in Richmond then why not come and have a chat with us. We can discuss your dental options and answer all of your questions. You can book a free consultation by calling Sheen Dental on 020 8876 5277 or visit our website www.sheendentalimplants.co.uk where you’ll find a wealth of information.