It is reported that an average of 69 percent of adults ages 35 to 44 have lost at least one permanent tooth to an accident, gum disease, or tooth decay.

Historically you had three choices to deal with a missing tooth:

You might choose to do nothing, especially for a gap that doesn’t show much. However, that missing tooth compromises your overall dental health, allowing the other teeth to shift, impacting bite, encouraging additional tooth loss, and contributing to TMJ.

You could adapt to the feel of a removable partial denture. A partial for the upper arch covers a significant portion of the roof of the mouth, impacting sense of taste and causing salivation. All floating dentures can slip unexpectedly when talking or eating, and require special cleaning.

You could have the teeth on either side of the gap reduced (prepped) and crowned to hold a replacement tooth in a permanent bridge. If you have problems with that bridge and it has to come out, all three teeth are impacted.

Today, you have a better choice of dental implants

Dental implants are a stand-alone replacement tooth that mimics the root and crown of a natural tooth. Tooth implant technology can be used to replace a single missing tooth, several teeth, to hold a bridge, or to secure a denture.

The dental implant is a tiny cylinder made of titanium, surgically inserted into the socket of the missing tooth. After a brief healing period where the implant integrates solidly into the bone, a post is inserted. The post functions as the anchor for an artificial tooth or porcelain crown.

Dental implants are the closest duplication of a natural tooth that modern dentistry has to offer. They function, look, and feel like real teeth. The success rate is extremely high. Since titanium is a biocompatible, noble metal your body accepts it readily with little chance of rejection. Implants are strong and stable and considered a lifetime restoration with just your normal good oral hygiene. You don’t have to live with a gap in your smile!

Dr. Anil Kohli and his team have specialized training in a variety of implant therapies to provide full dental implant procedures (extraction, implant placement, and porcelain crown restoration).