Dental implants are one of the most celebrated methods of tooth replacement, and they’re one of the first things that a dentist is likely to recommend if you’re missing a tooth. But what about if you’re missing several teeth?
Dental implants can be useful for patients like this as well, but they’re liable to need more of them than patients who are only missing a single tooth. However, you also don’t need a separate dental implant for every tooth you replace. If you want to know how many dental implants would be necessary to fill your mouth with teeth, here’s some information that can help you.
Replacing a Single Tooth
As you probably guessed, you only need one dental implant to replace one tooth. The ”implant” refers to the titanium post that is surgically placed in the jaw—one of these can be placed in the hole left by a single missing tooth and a dental crown can be placed on top of it to finish off your smile.
Replacing Several Teeth
But what if you’re missing a few teeth? If the teeth are all in separate places across the mouth, it may be necessary to fill each gap with its own individual dental implant. In that case, you would need as many implants as you are missing teeth.
However, for teeth that are missing right next to each other, you could use an implant bridge. This involves placing just two dental implants on either side of a large gap, then placing a series of connected dental crowns (called a “bridge”) onto them.
Replacing All of the Teeth on an Arch
What about people who are missing all of their teeth? For patients like these, even a dental bridge isn’t going to cut it. Instead, they may need a set of implant dentures.
As the name suggests, these are just like regular dentures except, instead of attaching to the gums via suction, they’re connected to a series of dental implants. It usually requires four dental implants to secure an upper or lower denture in place, which is why they’re sometimes called “all-on-4” dental implants. If you need to replace teeth on both the upper and lower ridge, you’ll need eight dental implants in total.
If you took one thing away from this blog, it should be this—no matter how many teeth you’re missing, there’s a number of dental implants that can help you!
About Our Practice
At Newton Corner Dental Care, we combine a compassionate approach with the latest in dental technology to ensure that our patients get the highest level of oral healthcare that they’re liable to find anywhere. Patients who come to our office will experience not only world-class dentistry, but also the feeling of being listened to and empathized with.
If you have any questions about dental implants, we can be reached at our website or by phone at (617) 332-6232.
