When placing crowns /bridged/ dentures Dr. Hoffmeyer and your referring doctor take into account tooth color and size as well as other features to ensure that your teeth are as realistic looking as possible and as close to your wishes as possible. If you have a photo from earlier in life when you had your own teeth, you may consider bringing it to the dental office to aid the dental work.
Types of treatment:
- One tooth is missing – crown on implant
- Several teeth are missing – crowns and bridges on implants
- All teeth are missing – full arch fixed bridge on implants
- All teeth are missing – removable prosthesis on implant snaps
Replacing one single tooth – Crown on implant
A natural tooth is anchored in the jawbone by the root. Traditionally, if a tooth is missing, the healthy neighboring teeth would be prepped, and the whole thing replaced by a bridge. Dental implants are the modern alternative. Instead of prepping two healthy teeth, a dental implant is inserted into the jaw, to replace the missing tooth. Your Dentist then places a crown onto this artificial tooth root that looks, feels, and functions like your natural teeth.
Replacing several missing teeth – Crowns and Bridges on implants
Traditionally, several missing teeth would have been replaced by a partial or full denture. Dentures must be taken out and put in water at night. They may look a little unnatural and annoying. Certain foods (sticky, tough) are also excluded when using dentures. By inserting an implant in the jawbone, you can now attach the prostheses completely. This prevents loosening, irritation and pain. You may have seen a person who looked prematurely old because their jawbone had shrunk after wearing dentures. Dental Implants help preserve your jawbone and appearance. If you are missing several teeth next to each other, you can connect a bridge on one or more implants.
Replacing all missing teeth – Full arch fixed bridge on implants
Implant bridges are comfortable, effective bridges, which can either be removable or fixed and fit discreetly over implants, allowing for maximum support and stability.
Implant bridges are comfortable and provide maximum support and stability. 4-6 implants are inserted into the jaw, which can hold a bridge of 8-10 teeth. With this type of treatment, the result will feel like it was your own teeth. NOTE: The pictures below look ‘scare’ due to a lot of bone loss, as the patient has been without teeth for a very long time. Normally, the implants will not be as visible as here. Source: The Danish Dental Association
Replacing all missing teeth – Removable denture on implants
Implant-supported dentures attach a customized denture to an individual implant or a row of implants, securing the denture in place. Working together, the denture and implant increase speaking and chewing ability. They are also very discreet in appearance, are long lasting and are quite durable. The denture only has to be removed during the minutes it takes for regular daily oral hygiene (cleaning of implants, denture and any remaining teeth).
Prosthesis held in place with snap lock. Source: The Danish Dental Association
Here is a complete denture held in place with a bar.
