Dental implants are usually the best tooth replacement option. However, sometimes we encounter challenges in trying to design a replacement solution.
One problem is when you don’t have enough space for dental implants in the gap between your teeth. This problem is especially common if you opted not to replace your teeth right away, however, it might also occur if you have a naturally narrow arch, or if your natural teeth were crooked or crowded.
Here are some of the options we might try to overcome this problem.
Orthodontics Can Make Space
One option is to just make the space we need using orthodontics. This is often the best option if your teeth were naturally crowded and you currently have crooked teeth.
The disadvantage of this option is that it takes time, which can lead to bone loss in the area, since your body starts removing bone as soon as your teeth are lost.
Smaller Implants
Sometimes it’s just a question of using smaller implants that fit better into the space.
While these usually work great, they aren’t always appropriate. In some cases, the biting force they would be put under would be just too much for smaller implants. In that case, we wouldn’t recommend smaller implants.
Fewer Implants
On the other hand, we might try to design a solution that uses fewer dental implants to replace your missing teeth. Dental implants are stronger than natural teeth, and we don’t need to replace each lost tooth with a dental implant. So, for example, we can replace three or four teeth with just two dental implants, and sometimes replace two teeth with just one implant.
As with smaller implants, though, we have to be careful about the biting forces the tooth will experience. If the forces are too great, we won’t recommend this solution.
Dental Bridge
While dental implants are usually superior to dental bridges, in some situations, a dental bridge might have an advantage. Tight spaces can sometimes be more manageable with a dental bridge than with implants.
Here again, the limitation is bite force. A dental bridge puts extra burdens on your natural teeth, which can put them at risk. We wouldn’t recommend this solution if that is the case.
Remove Additional Teeth
Sometimes, it’s a good idea to make space by removing one or more additional teeth. This would give us enough space to use an implant denture to replace the original lost teeth and the additional ones removed during the treatment process.
Of course, we don’t like to remove natural teeth unnecessarily. Dental implants are great, but natural teeth are still better. So we usually recommend this approach only if we think the adjacent teeth might need replacement, either now or in the foreseeable future.
Dental Implant Solutions in Columbia, SC
There are many potential challenges in placing your dental implants. To overcome these challenges and achieve optimal results from your dental implants, you should work with an experienced implant dentist like Dr. Adam Hahn at Smile Columbia Dentistry. Please call (803) 781-9090 today for an appointment.
