Implant or bridge: how to choose?

What each one rests on

An implant replaces the root of the missing tooth. It is placed in the jawbone, and the crown is fixed to it. The neighbouring teeth are left alone.

A traditional bridge rests on the adjacent teeth instead. They have to be reduced to carry the prosthesis that spans the gap. Two healthy teeth are therefore cut down to replace a single one.

What the neighbouring teeth change

This is what most often settles it. If the adjacent teeth are healthy and intact, reducing them to carry a bridge means damaging what is fine.

If they already carry crowns, or are weakened by deep decay or a fracture, the argument loses much of its force: they will be restored in any case.

The bone, which cannot be seen

After a tooth is lost, the bone stops being used at that spot and gradually resorbs. A bridge changes nothing about this: it spans the gap without resting in it.

An implant, on the other hand, transmits chewing forces to the bone again. It therefore helps limit that bone loss. The effect is slow, invisible at the time, and it counts over ten years.

Time

A bridge is fitted over a few appointments. An implant takes several weeks to a few months, the time the bone needs to bond to it, a phase called osseointegration.

That delay is not made of appointments: placing a single implant usually takes between 30 and 60 minutes. It is the wait between stages that makes the duration.

A temporary tooth can be planned for that period. The question to ask at the consultation is therefore less “how long” than “what am I wearing in the meantime”.

What actually decides

The choice is not made on a comparison table but on an examination: how many teeth are missing, the state of the neighbouring teeth, the bone available, and the health of the gums.

Only a clinical assessment and three-dimensional imaging can say what is possible in your situation. Some contraindications to implants are in fact temporary and can be lifted.