At Austin Dental Care, we provide a wide range of restorative dentistry solutions to help our patients address complex dental concerns in our Austin, TX dental office. Often, patients with a missing tooth must choose between dental bridges or dental implants. While both of these solutions will effectively replace a missing tooth, they each provide different long-term and short-term benefits that should be considered. Learn more about the differences between dental implants and dental bridges below.
Are Dental Implants Better than Dental Bridges?
Dental implants are considered the premier tooth replacement option that modern dentistry has to offer right now. This is because they not only replace your missing tooth but also the internal tooth-root support. A dental implant consists of a titanium post, an abutment, and a dental crown. The titanium post is surgically implanted beneath your soft tissues.
Over the course of several months, the post will fuse together with your jawbone and provide your restoration with tooth-root functionality. Once the post is healed, the abutment is placed on top of it to connect it to the dental crown placed on top. The result is a fully restored tooth that looks, feels, and functions like a natural tooth. Due to the added support from the surgically implanted post, patients with dental implants enjoy many long-term benefits including no dietary restrictions or additional oral hygiene precautions are needed to maintain the dental implant. Learn more about dental implants.
Are Dental Bridges Better than Dental Implants?
Dental bridges are a cost-effective approach to tooth replacement. Because they do not require a surgical procedure, the healing time is not as long for dental bridges as it is with dental implants. Patients can usually get their dental bridge within 2-3 visits to our Austin, TX dentist office. Dental bridges utilize the external support of your remaining dental structures to hold a prosthetic tooth in place of a missing tooth.
Because the hardware is completely external, patients will need to take additional oral hygiene precautions to ensure no food residue gets caught in the dental bridge. Our team will show you how to brush around and beneath your bridge hardware before you leave our office. Patients with dental bridges should also consider abiding by certain dietary restrictions to avoid damaging their dental bridge. We recommend patients with dental bridges avoid excessively crunchy or chewy foods.Learn more about dental crowns.
Want to learn more about your tooth replacement options in Austin, TX? Schedule an appointment to visit Austin Dental Care. We will evaluate your smile and determine which option is best for you and your needs. We look forward to seeing you soon.