This four-part article series explains, through looking at the differences between the various tooth replacement technologies available, why dental implants are the most cost effective option.

Welcome back to our four-part article series on the dental implants cost in Houston. In our previous article installments, we described what dental implants are and the various benefits they offer. We then took a look at dental bridges, which are a cheaper and inferior alternative for the replacement of single missing teeth. Those who have lost most or all of their teeth can either opt to cover the cost of “All on 4” dental implants, which offers a fixed and non-removable replacement solution, or traditional removable dentures.

Teeth Replacement Alternatives to Dental Implants, Continued

Removable dentures (above) are bulky devices that resemble a complete set of teeth mounted in pink plastic gums. They rest on the patient’s gums and depend up their mass and adhesive strips to remain stable in the mouth. While you may spend a few hundred dollars having dentures fitted as opposed to a few thousand on dental implants, you’re also signing up for the following:

• Sore, inflamed gums
• A reduced bite function
• The inability to manage tough foods
• Chronic halitosis, otherwise known as “denture breath”
• Taste impediment
• Triggered gag reflex
• The need to take your dentures out after meals and at nighttime for cleaning
• Acute oral discomfort
• Dentures that slip around and can fall out
• Unnatural smile aesthetics
• Low self-esteem and poor confidence

While the discrepancy between the cost of dental implants and dentures may compel more patients to opt for the latter, the difference in quality of life afforded simply cannot be compared. Dental implants feel, function and look like natural teeth. Dentures do not.

In addition to this, dentures incur certain repeat expenses that, in the long run, can actually add up to more than the All on 4 cost, which is the advanced dental implant protocol used to treat edentulism (the state of having lost all of one’s natural teeth). These expenses include adhesives, soaking solutions, anesthetic gels and the need to have dentures refitted periodically as a result of bone loss in the jaw.

Dental Implant Costs in Houston: Cost Effectiveness and Quality

Now that we’ve examined the various options patients needing new teeth face, let’s take a look at the following analogy.

You have a good and reliable car, but one day, it gets totaled in an accident. For some reason, you don’t have insurance, so now you need to buy yourself a new mode of transport. You could spend the thousands of dollars necessary to buy a new car, or you could spend a few hundred dollars on a bicycle. Obviously, you bite the bullet and buy a car. Why? Because a car is a far more sophisticated way of getting from A to B. You can travel long distances out of the onslaught of the elements and while listening to music or the radio. You can also safely transport yourself and your family wherever it is they need to go. There’s no question about the benefits of using a car as opposed to the bicycle.

Well then… why are your teeth any different?

You could spend a few hundred dollars on an inferior teeth replacement technology, but the toll these take on your health, quality of life and even bank account exponentially exceeds the short-term expense of having them fitted. Dental implants really are the way to go!

Stay Tuned for Part 3

In our next article installment, we shall focus on the cost of the “All on 4” protocol and how it undercuts traditional dental implant techniques by thousands of dollars.