The bone supporting by front teeth is wasing away Can I have a bridge or dental implants

Q. I have had been told by the Roayl School of Dentistry in Belfast that the bone supporting my two front teeth (both crowned due to injury as a child) is wasting away. I don’t know where to go from here as I would like to have either a bridge or implants …. probably a bridge as it would be less expensive. Would this be feasible ??

A. Dear B,

Thank you for your question. It is difficult to give you a straight forward answer without seeing you as things do sound rather complicated.

From your question it sounds as though your existing crowns are not savable due to lack of bone support. If this is the case when you have the teeth removed there is likely to be insufficient bone to support for implants and also possible problems with providing you with a cosmetically pleasing bridge. A possible way to resolve this would be to carry out a bone graft to increase the amount of bone available. Obviously a comprehensive examination of your problem is required to decide on what options to take.

As to whether to have implants or a bridge there are a number of things to consider. Are the teeth next to the space untouched - and if they are is it a good idea to have them cut to allow a bridge to attach to them? Are they strong enough to support a bridge? Often the cost of a multiple unit bridge is comparable to having implants placed. The great thing about implants is that no damage is done to the adjacent teeth, although at the front of the mouth it can be very demanding to produce a great cosmetic result with implants.

Sorry for the lengthy reply but there are many aspects that you need to consider and you should seek a consultation with a dentist experienced in these matters.

Regards,

Dr Julian Caplan BDS
Director on the board of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
Aviva Cosmetic Dentistry

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This post was published on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 11:39 pmand is filed under Dr Caplan's Answers, Experts Answers, Q. Dental Bridges, Q. Dental Implants, Q. General dentistry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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