A full complement of adult teeth is 32. Many people have their wisdom teeth removed (often due to lack of space). So people often have 28 teeth. They are all supposed to last a lifetime, hence they are often referred to as permanent teeth.
If for some reason a tooth is lost, there are 3 main ways of replacing missing teeth:
- The first category of tooth replacement is a denture. They are custom made removable appliances to replace one or more missing teeth. They can be made entirely of acrylic or have a cast metal frame with acrylic added to the frame. Full dentures are used when all the teeth in an arch are missing. Partial dentures are used when some healthy teeth still remain.
- The second option for tooth replacement is a bridge. This too is a custom-made lab solution. It holds on to the tooth/teeth in front of the space and the tooth/teeth behind the space, thus bridging the gap. It can be made of various types of metal or porcelain or a combination of the two (porcelain fused to metal). It is cemented in over the top of the prepared adjacent teeth. This a fixed, that is to say, non-removable option.
- And lastly, there are dental implants. This man-made root option is currently the closest thing to nature that dentistry can provide. They can look and feel like your own teeth.