Are dental implants a good alternative to fixed bridges?
They are more expensive and I want to know if the extra cost offers any extra benefits. Answer: According to many experts, dental implants are the ideal replacement for anyone who has lost teeth to trauma, decay, or disease or for some reason, was born without a full complement of teeth. The devices also can replace cracked or diseased teeth. Dental implants, titanium screws or cylinders, are placed in the jawbone to form a stable anchor for custom-made artificial teeth, called crowns. When implanted by an experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeon, the devices are indistinguishable from natural teeth, both in appearance and function. The titanium implants fuse with the jawbone through a process known as osseointegration, which eliminates the scarring that normally occurs when foreign devices are placed in the body. They are comfortable, do not decay, look and feel secure, and in fact, are more rigidly fixed in the jawbone than natural teeth. Dental implants have been used for several
