I’ve had a congenitally missing inscisor that I’ve worn a dental flipper for most of my life. I’ve graduated college and am ready to get a permanent solution. Do you have a recommendation? I’d also like to get one tooth to look nicer at the same time. It’s always been a bit oddly shaped/deformed. They’re near each other. I don’t know if that makes a difference.

Allie

Dear Allie,

It’s great that you’ll finally get a chance for a permanent solution. If you want the best replacement, I’m going to highly suggest you get a dental implant. The second best option is a dental bridge.

Dental Implant Versus Dental Bridge

With a dental implant, you have a prosthetic tooth root surgically implanted. Most are made out of titanium, as shown above. Recently, some dentists have started using Zirconia. After the implant has had time to integrate with the bone, then your dentist will place a porcelain crown on top of it. This is like having a healthy, natural tooth again.

With a dental bridge, you have a false tooth suspended between two dental crowns. This makes more sense if you have an adjacent tooth which needs a crown anyway. If it doesn’t, then you are unnecessarily grinding down two healthy teeth. This is just one of the reasons implants are a preferred treatment.

Matching Your Dental Implant to the Remainder of your Teeth

You mentioned a deformed tooth. This can be fixed with either a porcelain veneer or a dental crown. Which one you’d do would depend on the shape of the tooth. So, how will you get the deformed tooth, the prosthetic tooth, and your natural teeth to match?

You are going to need a dentist who has done both extensive studies in dental implants and cosmetic dentistry. This way you can get both functionality and beauty.

Look at Dr. Thein’s credentials to get an idea of the type of training you want in the dentist who does this work for you.

This blog is brought to you by La Crescenta, LA Dentist Dr. Robert Thein.