Missing Tooth: Which Fix?
The three ways to fill a single gap, weighed up fairly, with our fee for each and how many years each usually gives you.
Is an Implant, a Bridge or a Denture Best for a Single Missing Tooth?
An implant replaces both the tooth and its root, leaves the neighbouring teeth untouched and lasts longest, but costs most at the start and involves minor surgery. A bridge is fixed in place but usually means filing down the teeth either side to hold it. A denture costs least but comes in and out. At Peninsula Dentists on Greenwich Peninsula, an implant with its crown is from £2,250, a conventional bridge from £550 a unit (£1,650 for a typical three-unit bridge) and a small acrylic denture from £600. Across twenty years, the implant often works out cheapest.
The Three Options Compared
| Feature | Implant | Bridge | Denture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stays in or comes out | Stays in | Stays in | Comes out |
| Teeth either side | Untouched | Usually trimmed to carry it | Clasps rest on them |
| Jawbone | Preserved, as with a root | Shrinks under the false tooth | Shrinks under the plate |
| How it feels | Like a tooth | Mostly like a tooth | Like a plate |
| Usual lifespan | Decades if well looked after | Commonly 10 to 15 years | Around 5 to 10 years |
| Time to complete | About 3 to 4 months | About 2 to 3 weeks | About 3 to 5 weeks |
| Fee, from | £2,250 | £550 a unit; £1,650 for three | £600 |
Each one fills the gap. Where they differ is in what they demand of the surrounding teeth and bone.2
What Each Option Is
- An implant is a titanium screw-shaped root replacement, set into the jawbone. Over 8 to 12 weeks the bone bonds to it, and then a crown is attached. The adjacent teeth are left exactly as they are. We use MegaGen AnyRidge implants, placed through a guide made from your CT scan.
- A conventional bridge is a set of crowns joined together: the replacement tooth sits in the middle, supported by crowns on the teeth on each side, which must be trimmed to receive them. A resin-retained bridge instead bonds a small wing to the back of one neighbouring tooth with little or no drilling, which suits front teeth that do not bear heavy loads.
- A denture carries the replacement tooth on a plate you can remove, held by clasps around other teeth or by suction. You take it out to clean it and overnight.
Unsure Which Is Right for Your Gap?
At a free consultation we compare all three for your mouth, with fees and timings in writing.
When an Implant Makes Most Sense
If the teeth beside the gap are healthy, you want the nearest thing to what you lost, and you would rather not be dealing with the same gap again in a decade. Of the three, only an implant maintains the bone where the tooth stood, which affects how the gum looks and keeps future options open. Decay cannot touch it, but its gum still needs daily cleaning, just as natural teeth do.
It takes longer: the crown waits 8 to 12 weeks while bone fuses to the implant, and a front tooth will usually have a temporary in between. It also involves a minor operation, numbed with local anaesthetic, and Dr Imran Riaz, who places our implants, can give IV sedation if you want it.
When a Bridge Makes Sense
If the neighbouring teeth already carry big fillings or crowns, trimming them costs little extra, and a bridge gives you fixed teeth fast: two or three weeks from start to finish. For a single front tooth beside a healthy neighbour, a resin-retained bridge, from £650 a unit, is a conservative choice needing almost no drilling. It can debond, though, and is usually a medium-term answer rather than a permanent one.
The price of a conventional bridge is the sound tooth removed from the supports. The bone beneath the false tooth also gradually shrinks, and over time a small space can open up under the bridge.
When a Denture Makes Sense
If teeth are missing in several places, surgery is not right for you just now, or budget decides it. Today's dentures, made well, can look remarkably lifelike. It also works as a stepping stone, holding the space and your appearance while you think about an implant, and it is the usual stopgap during implant healing.
What it cannot do is prevent the bone beneath it shrinking, so it gradually loosens and needs relining or replacing. Many people also struggle with a plate across the palate or clasps around other teeth. Our dentures page shows the types we make.
Costs Over the Years
At the outset the denture is cheapest and the implant the most expensive. Across twenty years that order often flips.
- Bridge: a three-unit bridge is from £1,650, is typically remade after 10 to 15 years, and losing one of its supporting teeth means losing the bridge too.
- Denture: from £600, plus relines and replacements as the bone changes.
- Implant: from £2,250, or £188 a month over 12 months at 0%.4 Once healed it usually needs only cleaning and dental examinations, though, like any crown, the one on top may need renewing after 10 to 15 years.
Chrysalis Finance spreads treatment from £1,500 at 0% over 6 or 12 months. For the complete fee list, see our implant cost guide.
How We Help You Decide
At your free consultation Dr Riaz looks at the space, the neighbouring teeth and how you bite, adding a CT scan (£120) when an implant is a real possibility. He sets out each of the three with its price and timescale, then gives you his own recommendation and the reasons for it. You keep the written plan. Nobody steers you to the dearest choice; sometimes a bridge or a denture is simply the right one. If you work in Canary Wharf, we are five minutes away on the Jubilee line, a short walk from North Greenwich station.
Questions
This guide explains the options in general terms. Only an examination can tell you which of them suits your own teeth.