You never saw the ball.

You were at the tailgate, enjoying some good food and good conversation when a football smacked you right in the mouth. When the shock wore off, you were more surprised when one of your buddies asked you a question.

“Is that your tooth?”

Sure enough, that football knocked your tooth out. Fortunately, you knew exactly what to do. You picked up the tooth by the crown. You rinsed it clean, and you rinsed your mouth out, too.

Someone nearby had a first-aid kit, so you were able to soak up the blood with gauze.

You called 248-972-8720 to schedule an appointment at Newingham Dental Center in Birmingham, MI. You talked to Dr. Justin Newingham to figure out what to do next …

Replacing Your Missing Tooth

Now that you are short one tooth in your smile, you have to decide how you will replace it.

Leaving that gap in your smile is a bad idea for a few reasons. The missing tooth could lead to bone loss. Your other teeth may start to drift, which can affect your smile and your bite. It also could increase your risk of other oral health problems.

You have two options for solving this problem:

  • A dental bridge
  • An implant-supported crown

Let’s look at what these options have in common.

Both will restore the appearance of your smile. Both also will allow you to eat the foods that you love (like whatever distracted you during the tailgate).

The differences are in the process of getting them.

Getting a Bridge
To get a dental bridge, the first step is reshaping your nearby teeth so they can support your bridge. This is similar to what we would do to prepare a broken or cracked tooth for a dental crown.

Bridges are built by fusing crowns together. To replace a single tooth, your bridge would have three crowns. The outside crowns will be bonded to the nearby teeth. The middle crown will fill the space created by your missing tooth.

This solution can last for a long time, but if it does wear out, you may need to reshape more teeth and get a bigger bridge.

Getting an Implant-Supported Crown

If you choose this option, we don’t need to do anything to your healthy teeth. Instead, we place an implant in your jaw, where the root of your missing tooth once was. The implant becomes an artificial root to support your dental crown.

With the implant and crown together, you have a complete tooth replacement that can last the rest of your life with proper care. Even if the crown does fail, all you would need is a new crown to fix it.

Get Back to the Game

Whichever option you choose, Dr. Newingham and our dental professionals will do everything we can to get you back to cheering on your favorite team. Just remember to stay alert next time so we don’t have to do this again.

To learn more about tooth replacement options at Newingham Dental Center, call 248-972-8720 or contact us online.