Dental prostheses are devices that replace missing teeth, either individually, i.e. a single tooth, or in the entire dentition.
What types of dentures are there?
There are two types of dental prostheses: removable and fixed.
– Removable prostheses: the patient can and must remove them to clean them. They can be supported either on a natural tooth or on an implant.
– Fixed prostheses: these are prostheses that are cemented or screwed by the dental specialist and cannot be removed by the patient. Cementation can be performed either on a natural tooth or on an implant abutment.
What are the basic differences between a prosthesis and dental implants?
The terms prosthesis and implants should not be mixed, as they are different concepts. The dental implant is the screw that is surgically placed inside the maxillary bones to support the prosthesis, whether removable or fixed (cemented or screwed on it), individual or multiple.
Prostheses on implants are the individual crowns or structures that are supported on the implants and will replace the missing teeth, both esthetically and functionally.
Which is used more, prostheses or dental implants?
As a general rule, one is not used more than the other. In fact, they are complementary treatments in most cases.
Dento-supported prostheses – both fixed and removable – have been in place for many decades and have worked with more or less success.
Nowadays, the tendency, at least on our part, is to touch fewer teeth to place a fixed prosthesis and offer the patient the option of implants, since we only want to replace the edentulous area without having to alter more dental structures by subjecting them “unnecessarily” to root canals, grinding…