What Is a Dental Implant?
A dental implant is essentially a screw placed inside your jawbone that can be used to hold a tooth. The screw is usually made of titanium, a material with special properties that allow the bone to heal around it and hold it in place. This process is called osseointegration. When the implant is first placed, it is held in by mechanical force, but after a healing period, your bone secures it with biological force, strong enough to withstand chewing forces.
Why Would I Need an Implant?
The answer to this question is straightforward––or at least it should be. You need an implant when you do not have a tooth in a location where you want one. For example, if someone never developed a molar, the need for an implant fits this description perfectly.
However, the decision becomes less clear when existing teeth start to break down. At that point, you may face the question: should I try to save my natural tooth, or is it better to remove it and replace it with an implant?
Assessing the Risks
To make informed decisions in healthcare—or any situation—you need to do a cost/benefit analysis. You have to weigh what you might gain versus what you might lose. The same applies when deciding whether to remove a tooth and replace it with an implant.
What are the benefits of an implant?
You gain a new tooth on a solid structure, assuming everything goes well.
The process takes about 4-8 months from start to finish and can last a long time.
What are the benefits of keeping my tooth?
The foundations (roots) are already in place, so there’s no need to "reinvent the wheel."
If the chances of successfully rebuilding the tooth are good, the process is often easier to go through and can be completed within a month.
Risks of keeping the tooth:
It could break again in the future. You might lose the time and money you invested in saving it and eventually need to consider an implant or another solution.
Risks of getting an implant:
The implant could fail, either in the short term or long term. When an implant fails, it compromises the bone around it, leading to significant bone loss in that area. This bone loss can happen rapidly. There are options to rebuild bone, but they are costly and not always guaranteed to succeed. You might lose the money spent on removing the tooth, placing the implant, and attaching the tooth, and you might have to go through the process again—assuming you’re still a candidate after the bone loss.
This cost/benefit analysis shows that while implants are excellent options, they do carry risks. Some dentists present implants as better than natural teeth, but this is not true. Implants are the best option when there is no other option.
When Is a Tooth Worth Saving?
This is a difficult question with no single answer. There is a lot of subjectivity involved, and each patient has different values that guide their decision-making.
A common way to assess this decision is by asking how long the tooth is expected to last, though your dentist can only provide an estimate, not a definitive answer. Once you have an idea of the tooth’s longevity, finances naturally come into play. For instance, if your dentist estimates the tooth may last 5-10 years before breaking down beyond repair, saving it with a root canal, post, and crown might cost around $4,000. In contrast, removing the tooth and replacing it with a bone graft, implant, and implant-supported crown could cost approximately $6,000. While saving the tooth might be cheaper upfront, if the expected lifespan is 5-10 years and implants typically last closer to 20 years, an implant may appear to offer better long-term value.
Conclusion
Although the financial argument might favor implants in some cases, it’s crucial to remember the risks involved. The complications from implants are generally more severe than with natural teeth. If an implant fails, the cost to your body can be significant, and the financial cost of correcting the issue and restoring your mouth can also be much higher. Spending $4,000 to save a tooth for 8 years might seem like a worse deal compared to $6,000 for an implant that could last 20 years. However, teeth sometimes last longer than expected, and implants can fail earlier than anticipated. When implants fail, the damage is often greater.
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