Thursday, February 7, 2013

Houston Dental Implants and Bridges: A Comparison

This article compares dental implants and bridges and the benefits they offer people who have lost one or more of their original adult teeth.

If you have lost one or more of your original adult teeth, replacing them with either dental implants or a bridge can offer you many short and long-term benefits. These dental devices prevent your neighboring teeth from becoming loose and shifting; they also minimize the risk of bacterial infection from attacking the exposed tooth socket. Replacing missing teeth with a dental implant or bridge also fundamentally helps patients to eat and speak properly and with good confidence. However, before you opt for either Houston dental implants or a dental bridge, it is best to understand the difference between these two technologies. This will you help you to make the right choice.

What are Dental Implants?

Houston dental implants

A dental implant in Houston is a titanium screw that functions like a root for an artificial replacement tooth. This screw in placed in the mouth at the site/s of them missing tooth or teeth. Over the ensuing weeks, it fuses with the surrounding bone in a process termed ‘osseointegration’, essentially becoming a permanent part of your body. While this biological fusion is taking place, the implant dentist will places a temporary crown over the implant so that you don’t walk around with a noticeable gap in your smile. Complete healing typically takes anywhere from six weeks to nine months and is dependent on the location of the implant, the number of teeth replaced and individual's general and oral health. Once the healing is complete, the dentist will replace the temporary tooth crown with a permanent one.

What are Dental Bridges?

A dental bridge consists of one or more artificial teeth that are kept in place by way of a bridge that is fixed to two healthy teeth on either side of the missing tooth. These natural healthy teeth are ground down to nubs in order to provide fixed support for the bridge. Alternatively, a bridge can be fixed to the adjacent healthy teeth using metal bands and resin cement. There is also the ‘cantilevered bridge’ that makes use of just a single tooth to stay in place.

Comparing Houston Dental Implants and Bridges

Both dental implants and dental bridges provide a great aesthetic solution to missing teeth.  They’re also both fixed quite sturdily in place, so they cannot shift around or fall out. There are, however, some significant differences between these technologies that have rendered implants the preferred teeth replacement method of dental healthcare professionals.

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