Implants or Dentures? Choose the Right Smile

Need to replace missing teeth? You have a tough choice ahead between dentures and implants. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and vary applicability depending upon your teeth and gum health and your budget. 

Both dentures and dental implants have their points, but don't suit everyone. Image courtesy: pexels

You may have heard good or bad things about both options, which may have built up an aversion towards either. However, comparing everything, dental implants definitely are more lucrative. 

Why? Let’s explore. 

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What are Dental Implants and Dentures Anyway? 

Dentures, or False Teeth

Dentures are basically false teeth laid on a baseplate that sticks to your gums using suction or adhesives. They’re not a permanent solution; you must take them out and clean them every night. 

Dentures can take many forms. They can replace either a whole row of teeth or some teeth, or may be soft and flexible to use anywhere you need. They’re the most common and oldest tooth replacement solution. 

Dental Implants, the Permanent Solution 

A more modern way to replace missing or endangered teeth is to replace them entirely with new, artificial teeth. These are called dental implants. These metal bones get soldered to your jawbones directly and can come as single or multiple in a row, as required. 

They’re much safer and comfier than dentures but are pretty expensive. 

Comparing Dental Implants vs Dentures 

Dental Implants are definitely more durable than dentures, thanks to their titanium roots and metal crowns. They also look more real, and unless you make a golden tooth, people will be easily fooled by the natural aesthetics of implants. 

Considering you have to take out the dentures every night to clean, it is truly annoying to use them. And being a temporary solution makes them a health risk as well. But dental implants are just like regular teeth — you chew, you brush, you floss, business as usual.

Over time, dentures may get loose thanks to face shape change and bone loss. Then you have false teeth rattling in your mouth and difficulty chewing and speaking. Unless an implant has wholly failed to take root, you’ll never have to worry about these issues. 

Most people, especially elderly, retired people living on pensions, still choose dentures despite their disadvantages. The reason is money — dentures are pretty affordable.

Long-term Benefits of Dental Implants 

Dental implants are favored by anybody who can afford them. There are lots of good reasons behind this, such as: 

• Stability: Implants are solidly jammed into the jawbone. They will never rattle around in your skull. 

• Bone preservation: Wearing dentures for a long time erodes the useless jawbone underneath them. Implants get drilled into the bone so it stays healthy (after the healing process) till you die. 

• No speech impediment: Dentures can cause speech impediments; they are not easy to handle in your mouth. Implants are just like normal teeth and don’t change your speech in any way. 

• Good chewing: Thanks to being a permanent and solid solution, you retain your natural chewing ability with implants. 

• Long-lasting: Implants can last a very long time, from a decade to a lifetime, depending upon your usage and cleaning regimen. Traditional dentures get cracked or twisted in half that time. 

Are Dentures Worth the Hazard? 

Let’s face it: dentures are hard to use. It’s no joke sticking an oddly shaped object in your mouth day in and day out. Dentures are not comfortable despite being very cost-effective. They get loose over time, and the bone underneath gets weaker and smaller by the year. 

Salivating over that rare steak? Hold up! Your denture may not play ball with such hard foodstuff. Trying a corn cob with loose dentures and bad eyesight makes an amusing display: “Honey, is that my tooth, or what?” 

More amusing is the slurring and blubbering that comes with loose dentures rattling around in your mouth. 

Still, these can be lived with, but the regular adjustments are the real pain in the ass. With a complete set of dentures, you will often visit the dentist to get them adjusted to your aging and changing face shape. Remember the denture-related bone loss we talked about before? Yes, that will play a pivotal role here as well. 

Consider yourself, then, whether dentures are worth the savings. 

Dental Implant Procedure 

Unlike dentures, replacing a tooth with a dental implant is a much more complicated and lengthy process. It requires oral surgery that has a substantial recovery time and then other stages after that. 

First, the dentist will extract the bad tooth from the root (or what’s left of it). They will then drill a hole into the jawbone underneath and place a titanium prosthetic root called ‘post’ in the hole. The bone around the post will heal and press in, bonding with it and cementing it in your jaw. This can take up to 6 months. 

Once the post is securely embedded into your newly-formed jawbone, the dentist will attach a ‘connector’ to the post, followed by the actual metal tooth or the ‘crown.’ Sometimes, if things are not going well in the jaw, a temporary crown is also set for some time before inserting the original one. 

All that may scare some away from dental implants; on top of that, not everybody is a viable candidate for dental implants. Remember the healing and bone-growing process I mentioned above? That works well in young and strong people, but not if you’re quite aged, and your bones already have issues. 

Consider the Pocket 

According to the American Dental Association (ADA), dentures are way cheaper than dental implants. The cost of implants can be as high as $2200 per tooth, whereas you can get a full upper set of teeth replaced by dentures at that cost. 

However, dentures incur long-term expenses, thanks to the regular adjustments I mentioned above. Plus, you have to replace them every 5 to 15 years. 

Permanent bridges can be the most balanced tooth replacement solution, considering the immediate and recurring costs. 

People Like Dental Implants More, But…

Honestly, if you’re young (or at least middle-aged) and have an otherwise healthy body, it makes a lot of sense to invest in dental implants, especially if you’re having trouble with just that one rogue tooth. You can do it once and (with good maintenance) forget about it for the rest of your life. 

But when you’re much older, and your bones are getting brittle, chances are: one, your jawbones won’t heal enough to support an implant, and two, you’re not in a financially strong place (or have insurance) anyway. That is the reason we see so many elderly with false teeth. 

That being said, if you have a shot at getting dental implants, we recommend doing so. It will cost a lot initially but will return much more in the long run. To learn more about cost-effective and safe dental implants, contact <company> today and book a free consultation!