Dental bridges are ideal for patients with limited bone support and teeth damaged over time due to decay.
Bone Grafting is Not Necessary
Since the jawbone starts to resorb once you lose your tooth grafting is necessary for some procedures. For instance, when getting dental implants, bone grafting is necessary if the bone has resorbed. The advantage with bridges is that bone grafting is not necessary.
If you have been told you don't have enough bone for implants, we can advise you about bone grafting or regeneration (to create a healthy bone foundation for implants), or a graft-free immediate solution using limited bone availability for a still reliable method of implant teeth.
In most instances, placing a crown on a tooth with poor bone support is ill advised and can further hinder its longevity in your mouth.
Even the most damaged teeth can often be saved with proper periodontal treatment in a periodontal office. Many studies have shown that teeth with advanced bone loss, even to the top of the tooth root, can be saved with advanced regeneration and instruments.
For patients with significant bone loss due to prolonged tooth loss, dentists recommend a procedure called bone grafting. It is a surgical procedure that replaces a bone to help the jaw regenerate new bone cells and make them suitable for tooth replacement treatments.
People with gingivitis, periodontist or any other form of gum disease cannot have dental implants. This is because this condition destroys the gums and the bone beneath. As a result, too much bone loss leads to lack of sufficient bone for the implant to attach. Dentists often suggest treating gum diseases first.
Bone loss around dental implants is generally measured by monitoring changes in marginal bone level using radiographs. After the first year of implantation, an implant should have <0.2 mm annual loss of marginal bone level to satisfy the criteria of success.
Failure can result from the area becoming infected; there is not enough blood flowing to the treated area; there is a material movement before the area has fully healed. Bone grafts can also fail if there is an infection in the treatment area or within the mouth.
The bridge procedure is not painful because a local anesthetic is used while paring your teeth and when tyour dentist takes an impression. It is often unnecessary to take an analgesic for pain relief after the treatment.
In some cases, it may be too late for gum grafting to save the gums. If your gums are severely damaged, receding so far back that they expose the tooth's root, or if there is significant bone loss from advanced gum disease, gum grafting may not be able to restore them to their healthy state.
The Solution: A Bone Graft
A dentist or oral surgeon performs this procedure. A bone graft is an addition of bone material to the existing bone of your jaw area to create “scaffolding” for the implant. Several bone grafting options are available.
Temporary crown
While waiting for implants, temporary crowns may be a good choice. It is usually made of acrylic-based plastic, and the dentist will cement it in place. The crown offers an aesthetically pleasing option. It will appear like a real tooth, though the patient should be cautious about eating hard foods.
Getting Dental Implants Later in Life
There is no threshold at which an individual might be considered too old for dental implants. Many people undergo the procedure well into their 80s and beyond. Whether or not a person is a good candidate is decided on a case-by-case basis.
Eat a healthy diet including plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and low-fat dairy products. Maintain a healthy weight. Get 1000 to 1200 milligrams (mg) of calcium each day from calcium-rich foods and take a supplement only if needed.
You need healthy gums to be eligible for veneers, so you cannot get veneers with periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is a severe form of gum disease that can result in pain, swelling, and tooth and bone loss.
Before dental implants, there were no fixed solution available for people who lost all their teeth. Today, it is possible to replace a full jaw with dental implants and a fixed bridge that results in a permanent, stable and high esthetic solution.
If there is not enough gum tissue present, this can increase the risks of implant failure. In fact, severe gum recession and/or bone loss can prevent a person from being a candidate for dental implants.
While there is no cut-and-dried answer, since every person perceives pain differently and procedures are very individualized, most patients report feeling less discomfort during implant surgery than in tooth extraction procedures.
The reason it's more painful is that they harvest the donor tissue from the surface of the roof of the mouth. This leaves the underlying gum tissues completely exposed and therefore in pain. Connective tissue grafting – this procedure is significantly less painful than a free gingival graft.
If you have any oral health problems such as gum disease, there could be difficulties with bondingA composite resin applied to a tooth to change its shape and/or color. Bonding also refers to how a filling, orthodontic appliance or some fixed partial dentures are attached to teeth.
If you use your own tissue, the most teeth you can typically graft at once would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-8 teeth. With alloderm, you could graft every single tooth in your mouth in one sitting!
Dental bridges help replace one to four teeth, depending on your needs. However, generally, people replace one or two teeth. However, in rare cases, you can also have four teeth in a dental bridge, especially if you have sufficient healthy teeth present in your mouth to connect with dental crowns.