Teeth go missing all the time caused by sporting injury, accident, damage through cracking and decay and more.

It happens. It might not seem like much, especially if you have a back tooth missing, but a missing tooth can have a big impact upon your bite, and your self-confidence.

Missing a front tooth? You may not feel like smiling, you may feel very self-conscious about the gap. There may be issues chewing food. A large tooth absent in the back of the jaw? With no tooth there to keep the others in line, slowly they will become crooked, taking over the space where the tooth once was.

Missing teeth put more pressure on the surrounding teeth, having to work harder. This causes the remaining teeth to wear out faster, which will lead you back to the dentist sooner.

Luckily, if you lose a tooth, for whatever reason, our dentist surgery in Knox can help bring you back to a full set of teeth, through cosmetic dentistry, through to dental implants and false teeth.

Replacing a missing tooth is an elective dental procedure, and usually there are 3 options:

1. 1. Acrylic or Chromium Cobalt Denture

These are either a plastic or metal plate which clips in to the inside of our mouth.

Advantages:

Cheap and Reversible, which means if we dislike the plate, we can get rid of it and no harm is done to our teeth.

Disadvantages:

Plates are removable, therefore they are like wearing glasses. For those of us who wear glasses, we know sometimes glasses may get in the way of things.

For example in social situations, some of us prefers not to have glasses. We cannot swim or play certain competitive sports with glasses on. Therefore with plates, there are things that we may find annoying.

Plates feel bulky to some people, especially to the tongue. Sometimes they may interfere with speech, and may move when we chew hard foods like steak.

1. 1. Bridge

This is where a false tooth is held on by one or two neighbouring teeth.

Advantages:

Bridges are fixed, which means we do not have to take it in or out of the mouth.

Disadvantages:

The procedure is irreversible. In most cases in order to place a bridge, we have to give the tooth a haircut, which means some tooth structure will need to be removed.

1. 1. Implant

This is where a false root is inserted in to the jaw bone and a false tooth is placed on top.

Advantages:

An implant is fixed, which means we do not have to take it out of the mouth. The implant is independent of the neighbouring teeth, which means the tooth does not have to be held on to the teeth next door.

Disadvantages:

The implant root is surgically inserted in to the jaw, therefore there are strict criteria into whether an implant is possible in an area. The entire process is lengthy, which may take up to 6-12 months.