Dental implants offer an excellent solution for patients with missing teeth. This revolutionary treatment has been around for many years and is seen as the most permanent way of replacing your teeth. As such, you’re probably wondering what the cost of dental implants is in this day and age. How does this treatment compare to others in terms of costs and long-term effectiveness?

 

Naturally, it’s not possible to give a figure that states the cost of dental implants as it varies from patient to patient. There are plenty of factors that can make this treatment more or less expensive – and we’ll run through some of the key ones in this guide. However, it’s also important to think about the long-term costs of dental implants over a lifespan. This provides a more accurate view of where they stand when compared to other treatments.

 

What are dental implants?

 

Before we go any further, let’s define dental implants. A natural tooth is made up of many important parts. It has a root, which goes deep below the gum line and secures the tooth into your jaw. Then, you have a crown, which is basically the top part of your tooth.

 

A dental implant is designed to mimic your natural teeth. It is composed of a titanium base, which replaces the root. This base is essentially fused to your jawbone, anchoring it in place. A porcelain crown will then be made and inserted onto the titanium ‘root’. The idea is that the titanium base secures the crown in place, providing you with a natural tooth replacement. This can have many benefits, including a lack of bone resorption. With other tooth-replacement methods, your gums tend to recede as the bone resorbs. In essence, this means the bone starts fading away, which leads to more teeth in the surrounding area falling out. Dental implants stop this by mimicking the action of a real tooth!

 

What factors can influence the cost of dental implants?

 

As you can imagine, the dental implant process is complex. Clearly, this will influence the costs as the scale of treatment tends to be larger than other tooth-replacement treatments. This is typically because it involves oral surgery to insert the titanium post into the mouth. Still, it’s important to stress that every case is different. One patient may pay for their treatment and find that it costs a lot more than someone else. Thus, it’s near impossible to find an average price as it can be highly misleading.

 

Instead, the best approach is to look at some of the main factors influencing the cost of dental implants:

 

The teeth

 

Your teeth play a vital role in determining the cost of this treatment. Effectively, two things will be the main concerns:

 

  • How many teeth need to be replaced?
  • Which teeth need to be replaced?

 

The more teeth you need to replace, the more costly this treatment will be. It’s also key to note that teeth extractions will be an influencing factor. If a tooth is damaged and needs to be extracted, this could make the procedure cost more.

 

The teeth that need to be replaced refers to incisors, molars, and so on. Usually, molars are the hardest teeth to replace due to the position in the mouth. They tend to be the biggest, meaning the crowns need to be larger, and they can be more challenging to extract.

 

Additional treatments

 

Furthermore, the presence of additional treatments comes into play. Some patients need no additional treatment other than fitting the implant and installing the crown. However, some will require a few extra things before the implant can be placed. This normally includes one or both of the following:

 

 

The health of your gums will determine if you need to undergo some extra periodontal treatment beforehand. This is the case if you suffer from periodontal disease, which basically means your gums are inflamed and receding. It’s not wise to install implants when your gum health is bad. So, treatment will be required to improve gum health before dental implants are placed.

 

Similarly, bone grafting is required when your bone has resorbed due to missing teeth. As mentioned before, resorption is where the bone fades away. So, bone grafting is needed to fill the areas of your jawbone that might have faded away. In essence, you need to rebuild the foundations for the implants to work.

 

Therefore, the length of time you’ve had a missing tooth is an underlying factor that influences the costs of dental implants. If you lost a tooth within the last week, you wouldn’t need additional bone grafting treatment. If you’ve been without a tooth for a few years, bone grafting will almost always be necessary.
 

How do dental implants compare to other treatments?

 

 

If you didn’t want dental implants, what are your other options to replace missing teeth? Mainly, you have to choose between bridges or dentures. Again, both of these treatments vary in costs depending on the patient. Still, dental implants differ in a few ways that you should keep in mind when weighing the overall costs:

 

  • Dental implants provide the most natural look and feel of any tooth-replacement treatment
  • Dental implants are built to last for life, while dentures and bridges need to be replaced over and over again
  • It’s far easier to maintain dental implants, with almost no ongoing costs to worry about

 

Therefore, if you’re looking for the best long-term solution, dental implants seem to come out on top. You will rarely have to pay for anything after the initial treatment. The only other cost is a replacement crown every few years, but this will be nowhere near the price you paid for the dental implant treatment.

 

If you’re looking for a solution to replace missing or damaged teeth, dental implants could be perfect for you. This treatment needs to be carried out by experienced professionals with the correct dental training. Contact us to schedule an initial consultation.

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