WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT HAVING A MISSING TOOTH

Accidents happen, and sometimes your tooth gets damaged or needs to be extracted. You may choose to leave the broken tooth or missing gap as it is, but depending on the situation, it may lead to long term consequences. Alternatively, we have many options for you to regain your healthy, beautiful smile.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I LEAVE THE GAP BETWEEN MY TEETH WITHOUT ANY TREATMENT?

After the tooth is extracted, a space is left between the teeth. Over many years, without treatment, the following long term consequences usually occur:

  • The neighbouring teeth can start to tip or drift inwards towards the space. As this happens, food will get stuck under these teeth and it can be harder to clean.
  • In most cases, the opposing tooth will also start to ‘grow’ or ‘super-erupt’ towards the space. Eventually, the tooth may end up loose or biting on the gum and may need to be extracted.
  • The bone where the tooth socket used to be will gradually become less dense and may dip down.

If these happen, additional complex treatment may be needed before we can replace the teeth. Therefore, we always recommend that you consider all options carefully if you decide to extract your tooth.

WHAT OPTIONS ARE THERE FOR REPLACING A MISSING TOOTH?

CROWNS AND BRIDGES

  • Bridges cover a gap between two teeth. It is made of 2 crowns on the supporting teeth and a prosthetic tooth suspended in the middle. Patients who want to avoid surgery or who are unable to have dental implants usually opt for this option as it is a fixed option that is long lasting and natural looking.

To ensure the best aesthetics and function, we do most of our crowns and bridges inhouse, using a 3D CAD-CAM system – CEREC Sirona. Each crown is custom made to fit your teeth and mouth with impeccable precision.

We can provide high quality crowns and bridges in just a single day, unlike the typical way that can take up to 2 weeks. 

DENTAL IMPLANTS

In severe cases, the broken tooth may be too damaged, and may require tooth extraction. After removal, there will be a missing space. This can be replaced with a dental implant, which is a natural and simple solution to regain your tooth.

The advantage of a dental implant is that it is an independent replacement tooth that is not joined to the neighbouring teeth. It will never decay as it is made of medical grade titanium and ceramic.

A dental implant is a very small but strong post which is inserted into the jaw bone in place of the missing tooth root. The implant fuses with and becomes part of your jaw bone. One or more implants can be placed according to how many teeth you are replacing.
Afraid of pain with implant surgery? Want a faster implant surgery?

With our Fully Digital Guided Implant Technique, we 3D print a customised CAD-CAM guide, designed and made in our clinic. With this, we can place the implant precisely in the most optimal position , giving you a fast implant surgery with less pain and yet better results than conventional freehand implant surgery which is prone to errors.

REMOVABLE DENTURES

For missing teeth, the gap can be filled by traditional removable dentures which are plastic teeth held in pink acrylic base that fits over your gums and teeth. They need to be removed every night before sleeping. It usually takes about 4 or 5 visits to fabricate a good set of dentures as they need to be molded to your mouth.

Bone loss still occurs with dentures, hence they may need to be remade periodically as they stop fitting well.

Dentures can be supported with implants, to improve the stability and retention of the dentures, especially when eating or speaking.

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