So you are facing the loss of a few teeth. Your dentist is recommending a partial denture or a fixed dental bridge supported by dental implants. This solution might be good for now, but your choice now could impact your options in the future. Here are some things you need to take into account when making decisions about your partial denture or implant bridge.
Are You Likely to Lose the Rest of Your Teeth?
When you are considering your partial denture, you should take into account the risk that you might lose more teeth in the future.
If you lost your current teeth to poor oral health, you’re likely to lose more in the future. Gum disease can be hard to roll back once it’s started. This is especially true if your parents lost all their teeth. Oral health risks often run in families, partly because of genetics, but also because of lifestyle and shared habits of eating and prevention.
The existence of certain overall and oral health conditions might also put you at greater risk for losing more teeth. Diabetes, for example, can make you more likely to lose teeth, so if you have diabetes, you might expect that these will not be your only lost teeth. Dry mouth can be caused by many medications, and puts you at significantly increased risk.
However, if you lost your teeth to an accident or trauma, you might be less likely to lose more teeth, unless your tooth replacement puts them at risk.
Is Your Denture Plan Putting Teeth at Risk?
Another possible factor in future tooth loss is the way you choose to replace your lost teeth. Partial dentures and dental bridges anchored on natural teeth can both put your teeth at risk. The metal clasps and hooks of a removable partial denture can damage your teeth and provide places where oral bacteria and food accumulate. A denture bridge that’s supported by natural teeth can put more stress on those teeth and can make them fail prematurely.
When talking to your dentist about your partial tooth replacement, ask if it could potentially lead to more tooth loss in the future.
Is Your Denture Preserving Options for the Future?
You might not want to get implants yet, but think you’d like to get them in the future if you lose more teeth. However, the placement and type of tooth replacement you choose now could impact your ability to get implants in the future.
Dentures can lead to a loss of jawbone where they’re placed. This could prevent you from getting implants in that area, or make them more expensive and time-consuming.
And if you’re getting an implant-supported dental bridge, you should consider where the implants are placed, and whether the placement could make it harder to design a full denture later.
Quality Tooth Replacement for Life
If you have lost teeth, it’s important to make a plan not just for today, but one that will give you the best results for life, whether you lose more teeth in the future or not.
At Smile Columbia Dentistry, we are dedicated to giving our patients the best dentures for life that modern dentistry can design. This includes high-functioning partials, implant-supported or traditional. And it includes high-performance FOY® Dentures. To learn more about making a plan for your tooth replacement, please call (803) 781-9090 today for an appointment with denture dentist Dr. Adam Hahn, serving patients in Columbia, SC.
