3 Treatment Options For Hyperdontia

Hyperdontia is a genetic condition that leads to missing teeth due to the fact that those teeth simply never developed. The missing teeth frequently include all of the wisdom teeth and some molars but the gaps can appear anywhere in your mouth. These gaps can impact your self esteem, create spacing and crowding problems for other teeth, and make it harder for you to chew or comfortably hold your mouth closed.

What are some of the common treatment options for hyperdontia?

Dental Implants

Replacing the missing teeth helps stabilize the surrounding teeth while also improving your bite and self esteem. Dental implants are one of the most sturdy dental replacements available.

For a dental implant, your dentist will fuse an artificial tooth root into the jawbone in the missing tooth's gap. A natural-looking artificial tooth is then snapped into place over that root. Implants won't feel exactly like your real teeth but are as close as modern dental practices can come to replicating natural teeth.

Benefits of implants over other treatment options include the ability to place several implants in a row and the sturdiness making it fairly easy to eat or hold your mouth shut. Downsides include cost if the implant isn't covered by your insurance and the fact that it is essentially a surgical procedure, which requires more healing time than other treatment options.

Dental Bridge

If you only have one or two missing teeth, and each gap is surrounded by natural teeth, then a bridge might be another treatment option for you. Dental bridges have an artificial tooth similar to an implant but here that tooth is suspended between two artificial crowns, or teeth caps. The crowns are fused to the neighboring teeth for stability while the artificial tooth dangles in the center.

Bridges offer more comfort and stability than partial dentures. But bridges require neighboring teeth to be present. And if one of the crowns becomes damaged, the entire bridge structure could become compromised.

Partial Dentures

Partial dentures are a small plate of artificial teeth that fits down over your jaw bone in the missing teeth gap. This option is appropriate when there are several teeth missing in a row, making a bridge impossible, and you don't want to go the route of dental implants.

This treatment option tends to be one of the cheapest. And you might consider the fact that the dentures can be removed at night a selling point. But the ability to remove the dentures also means the plate can slip around a bit while chewing or talking and that can require an adjustment period to get used to the feeling. Contact Michels & Gauquie Cosmetic and Family Dentistry for more information.