A Teenager's Guide to Braces

Large, toothless gaps in one's mouth are rarely considered attractive. In fact, most people attempt to avoid having these gaps in their mouths as much as possible. If you are facing large, toothless gaps in your mouth, and you would really prefer not to have the gaps, there are a number of newer approaches you can choose to address this problem. They are all tied together in a unique fashion, but some of your options probably will not be covered by dental insurance. Based on the following information, you will have to make a choice. 

Dental Implants

If you are a good candidate for dental implants (i.e, someone who is younger, heals well from surgery, and will not likely develop an infection from which you cannot heal and who does not have bone diseases), your dentist may suggest these. They are a permanent solution for replacing missing teeth. You can get one implant per each missing tooth, or fill all the gaps in your mouth. However, this is not your only option for closing gaps in your mouth. 

Implant Bridges

Implant bridges are a more recent solution for gap-toothed mouths. The dentist puts implant screws into your jaw, leaving just a single tooth space in between with no screw. One to two abutment screws are inserted on each side of the open space, depending on how many teeth are missing from the gap. Then a set of implant crowns are made as a single piece of oral hardware, with a fake crown for the single tooth in the middle that does not have an abutment screw. The whole bridge pops in over the abutment screws and the empty space without a screw to fill the gap in your mouth. It is a slightly cheaper option than filling in the space with a lot of implants. 

Permanent Dentures

Perhaps most recent of all are permanent dentures. Your dentist performs the surgery to insert abutment screws all along the empty gum lines of your mouth. After that has healed, the dentist makes what looks like a pop-in/pop-out set of dentures, with a few key differences.

These dentures have no faux gum tissue attached, and they are actually implant crowns sealed together to make a denture that pops in over the tops of all of those abutment screws. It is an ideal option if you have only one or two natural teeth left, and you would rather just have a permanent set of dentures that you never have to remove. (The remaining natural teeth in your mouth are removed to make way for the abutment screws and permanent dentures.)