Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages of using dental implants over general dentistry methods of replacing missing teeth, e.g. crown and bridge supported by natural tooth roots, regular full dentures and partial dentures.
Advantage: Dental implants will preserve bone.
Healthy dental implants will preserve bone just like healthy natural teeth. No other method of tooth replacement can make this claim! Missing tooth areas restored with fixed bridges supported by natural tooth roots or conventional dentures will continue to lose bone as time goes on. In fact, wearing dentures will literally accelerate bone loss.
Advantage: Dental implants do not require compromising adjacent natural teeth.
Unlike bridges supported by natural teeth, dental implants do not need support assistance from the neighboring teeth. Implants can be placed and the next-door teeth left in their existing, many times, virgin state. Natural teeth used to support a bridge are seriously compromised when the enamel is removed and the tooth structure reduced to small “pegs” in order to attach a bridge. Not only are these seriously weakened teeth asked to continue doing their job, but the job of the missing tooth or teeth as well. It is not surprising that the average life of a natural tooth bridge is only 8-12 years. Of course, service time greatly depends on the the particular teeth involved, the size of the bridge as well as the quality of dentistry. Eventually, however, natural teeth supporting bridges fail, leaving additional missing teeth behind. If an implant should fail, in most instances it can be removed and replaced, all the while leaving the neighboring natural teeth intact.
Advantage: More cost effective in the long-term.
Many patients feel that the main disadvantage to implant treatment is cost compared to other types of treatment the dental field has to offer. This will probably be true when calculating the short term costs. However, when weighing the long-term factors, it is more likely that implant treatment will not only be more cost effective, it will offer other benefits such as bone preservation, better function and cosmetics and less time in the dental chair.