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Dental implants have the amazing benefit of being able to last a lifetime. With proper placement, care, and maintenance, dental implants have been documented lasting over 50 years, and there’s no reason to believe they might not last another 50.
However, dental crowns and bridges on top of the implants are another story. While these have very long lifetimes–sometimes 30 years and more–they are not expected to last forever. That means that at some point, your dental implants might need to have new crowns or bridges placed on them.
Here are some of the common reasons why people have to replace the crowns and bridges on dental implants.
Crowns No Longer Match Natural Teeth
When your dentist placed your dental implants, they probably matched your natural teeth perfectly. Dental implants are an attractive tooth replacement solution, and often indistinguishable from natural teeth.
However, over time, they might not match as well. Usually, this is because natural teeth stain, while dental implants resist staining. For a while, teeth whitening might be able to keep the match good, but eventually the two will diverge. Especially once natural teeth start losing their enamel, which can make them look permanently yellow.
On the other hand, some materials used for crowns in the past might now have either stained or changed color with age.
In either case, you might want to replace the crowns or bridges on your implants to match your natural teeth.
Replacing Neighboring Teeth
Sometimes, you might want to change your dental implants because you have to replace teeth next to the dental implant. Implants do not put your natural teeth at risk, but if you’ve lost one tooth, the same causes might lead to the loss of more. And if you’re replacing more teeth next to a dental implant, you might want to expand the crown or bridge to replace the others, too.
It is usually possible to use your current implant as part of a new solution to replace other teeth lost in the area. Sometimes it’s better to leave your old implant alone, but other times we might want to modify it.
Changing Styles
A lot can change in 50 years. Clothes, hair, and makeup can be completely different. But your dental implant won’t. So it’s possible that the style of replacement tooth or teeth you chose several decades ago just doesn’t match you anymore. Maybe you were a big fan of large canines in the past, but now you’re not. Or perhaps you think the teeth you selected now seem too small or too large. Maybe they’re too white and you want a subtler brightness.
These are all good reasons to replace the crowns or bridges on your dental implants.
Damaged Crowns and Bridges
And of course, as we noted, the crowns and bridges on dental implants don’t last as long as the implants themselves. They can be cracked, chipped, or worn down with age.
Sometimes, the crowns or bridges can be repaired. In fact, you might expect a minor repair or adjustment to your crowns and bridges about every decade or so.
Other times, a dental crown or bridge can’t be repaired and it needs to be replaced.
We Can Make Old Dental Implants to Like New in Anchorage
Obviously, there are many reasons why you might want to replace your old crowns or bridges on dental implants. But in each case, the result is the same: old dental implants can become like new.
To learn how we can make your old implants like new, please call (907) 349-0022 today for an appointment with Anchorage implant dentist Dr. Kendall Skinner at Excellence in Dentistry.
