Posted by writeradmin
I am dealing with the consequences of gum disease and am losing some teeth, plus have some other loose ones. I was thinking to get a removable partial denture for the teeth, but my dentist wants me to get a 5 part bridge. That is a bit too expensive for me. Is there an important reason to do it that way?
Candice
Dear Candice,
Actually, I think given the situation with your gum disease and your teeth, that a dental bridge is more dangerous for you. The dental bridge will put a LOT of pressure on the anchor teeth. So much pressure, in fact, that I think you risk loosing them as well. I hope your dentist isn’t suggesting this simply because he’d make more money out of a bridge than a removable partial denture.
If he gives you grief about choosing a removable partial denture, then I suggest you simply go to a different dentist to have it done. This isn’t a hard thing to do and, ideally, it is a temporary solution for you until your gum disease is under control, so there is no reason to spend a fortune on it. I would simply do an internet search for an “affordable dentist.” I’m sure any one of them would be happy to do the procedure for you.
A Permanent Solution
Hopefully, you are getting treatments for your gum disease. Otherwise, you will continue to lose bone, which means losing more teeth. Once that is under control, my suggestion is that you have a more permanent treatment done. The best tooth replacement is a dental implant. Not only because they are the closest thing to having a healthy, natural tooth, but also because they help protect you from further bone loss. Plus, a five unit bridge is risky.
You’d need to start with some bone grafting because you need healthy jaw bone in order to retain dental implants and you’ve lost a lot of bone due to the gum disease. Once that is done and healed, then you will be able to have the implants placed.
This blog is brought to you by Baton Rouge Dentist Dr. John Theriot.