Most people arrive with one tooth missing and no idea whether it matters. It does, but not urgently, and the choice between an implant, a bridge and leaving it alone deserves a proper comparison rather than a sales pitch.
In Colwood a dental implant turns on the teeth on either side
A bridge is anchored on the neighbouring teeth, and taking crowns means filing them down. Where those teeth already carry large fillings that is a fair use of them. Where they are untouched, you are cutting into healthy teeth to solve a problem elsewhere, and that is the argument for an implant.
If the gap is at the front, appearance drives more of the decision, which is covered on Front Tooth Implant.
Service area
What is assessed
Colwood dental implants, stage by stage
The neighbouring teeth
Sound and untouched, or already heavily filled. This single fact decides most single tooth cases.
Bone at the site
Width and height on a three dimensional scan. A long standing gap has usually narrowed more than it looks.
How the bite closes
Whether the opposing tooth has over-erupted into the space, which changes what will fit there.
Whether it matters
A back molar with everything else stable is a different case from a gap that is letting teeth drift.
Doing nothing
When skipping the dental implant is reasonable
A single back tooth, no drifting, a stable bite and no appearance concern is a case where leaving the gap alone is defensible. What you should know is what happens slowly: the ridge narrows, the opposing tooth may drop into the space, and the neighbours can tilt, all of which make treating it later harder and dearer.
Urgency, appearance, cost and whether it can wait.
Less than people fear and more than nothing. A single back tooth with a stable bite may cause no trouble for years. The change is in the ridge underneath and in neighbouring teeth drifting, both of which are slow and both of which make later treatment harder.
There is no deadline, but the site keeps changing, with most of the bone width going in the first year. Waiting five years usually means grafting that would not have been needed at one year. That is the honest trade off.
A well made implant crown at the back is undetectable to anyone but a dentist. At the front, matching a single tooth to its neighbours is the hardest cosmetic task in dentistry and worth discussing in detail rather than assuming.
Up front, usually. Over twenty years the gap narrows, because a bridge is typically replaced once or twice and each replacement takes more of the supporting teeth. Both figures are worth seeing before deciding.
Yes, and for a visible gap it is usually part of the plan rather than an extra. A simple removable one or a bonded temporary bridges the months while the post integrates. Ask what is included so it is not a surprise.
Patients
What Colwood patients say
★★★★★4.9· 118 reviews on Google
★★★★★
Told it could wait and why. No pressure at all. Went ahead a year later on my own timing.
D. Kowalczyk
Back molar, Colwood
★★★★★
Matching one front tooth was the hard part. They said so up front rather than promising perfection.
N. Tremblay
Front tooth, Saanich
★★★★★
Both my neighbouring teeth were untouched. Once that was explained the choice was obvious.
O. Haugen
Chose implant, View Royal
★★★★★
Had a temporary through the whole healing period. Never went out with a visible gap.
R. Mbeki
Temporary fitted, Metchosin
From the blog
Victoria implant guides: comparisons, cost and healing time
Implant, bridge and leaving it alone, with what each does to the teeth either side and what each costs. That comparison is the point of the first appointment.
