Your Treatment Options for Missing Teeth

If you are missing one or more of your natural teeth, you have several options available to you, and only one can be described as “bad”: doing nothing at all. If you leave a missing tooth untreated, you will face a variety of dental problems, ranging from the aesthetic effects on your smile to the weakening of your bite. Fortunately, modern restorative dentistry offers numerous excellent treatments for missing teeth. More so now than ever before, you can emerge from treatment with your smile and oral health fully intact.

At the cosmetic and restorative dentistry practice of Dr. Timothy S. Messer, we offer a full range of treatment options for missing teeth. During a consultation at his Memphis, TN practice, Dr. Messer can explain these treatment options to you in detail and help you decide which one is best suited to your unique needs and goals. What is most important is that you will be improving your oral health significantly while making your smile complete once again.

To learn more about your treatment options for missing teeth, please don’t hesitate to schedule your initial consultation with Dr. Messer.

How Does Dr. Messer Replace Missing Teeth?

There are several treatments that Dr. Messer can use to replace missing teeth, depending on the nature and extent of the tooth loss:

• Fixed dental bridge: A traditional fixed dental bridge comprises one to three replacement teeth called pontics that are bookended by porcelain crowns on either end. When these crowns are affixed to the natural teeth adjacent to the gap once occupied by teeth that are now missing, the pontics fill the empty space. This not only completes the smile and restores strength to the bite, but also prevents the teeth surrounding the gap from shifting out of their optimal positions in the mouth. Once in place, a fixed dental bridge can be removed only by a dentist, so there is no risk of it shifting out of place or falling out of the mouth at inopportune times.
• Partial or full dentures: Traditional removable dentures remain a viable option for patients who are missing most or all of the teeth on one or both of their arches. Modern dentures are both more aesthetically pleasing and more comfortable and snug-fitting than their counterparts of the past.
• Dental implants: Dental implants represent the absolute pinnacle in tooth-replacement treatments. Dental implants are titanium posts that are surgically embedded in the jaw, where they fuse with the bone and act as roots for replacement teeth. The titanium implants can be used to secure individual crowns, bridges, or even full-arch dentures with unrivaled strength and stability. Implant-supported restorations are truly the next best thing to having natural, healthy teeth in terms of aesthetics, functionality, and longevity.

Learn More about Your Treatment Options for Missing Teeth

If you would like to learn more about your treatment options for missing teeth, or you wish to schedule your initial consultation with Dr. Timothy S. Messer, please contact our cosmetic, restorative, and general dentistry practice today.

Tagged In: Restorative Dentistry, Dental Implants, Dental Bridges, Dentures