<p>Mine is the third molar and I think one has to have something there to keep other teeth shifting. Do you need a bridge as an interim measure when you are getting a crown? Can you do without it? I am not sure I like the idea of boring holes in the neighboring teeth to install a bridge.</p>
<p>@iglooo, I think it depends. I didn’t have anything, except a “flipper” when it was a front tooth. It was enough of a pita that I decided to go without most of the time. </p>
<p>@lxnyBob, Thank you! If I have a choice, I’d do without.</p>
<p>@iglooo, even when I had two molars on one side and one molar on the other extracted, I could still eat and was fine. I’m glad that I did them concurrently. </p>
<p>For the front tooth, the flipper was so bothersome that I mostly allowed myself to look like a hockey player. I was married and my wife and kids loved me even if I looked a little funny. </p>
<p>Mine was my last molar also. There has been no shifting of my teeth. As I understand it, if it was the lower one, the upper one may shift but this doesn’t happen if the upper one is out. </p>
<p>It is a big deal. It can be great and sometimes it can be horrible. Unfortunately, I’ve had the later experience. Please be careful with this decision. </p>
<p>^I don’t have much choice. The tooth has to come out to stop the bone from deteriorating. If it’s a back molar, I don’t mind living without but it’s kind of front, the third molar.</p>
<p>@Iglooo I understand you probably have to have the tooth removed, but there are other options to be considered. There are dental bridges, etc. An implant may be a great choice for you, but I would ask a lot of questions and be an informed patient. What is their failure rate? What type of bone graft? What type of implant (there are many different kinds), What materials are used? Am I allergic? What about possible nerve damage from the surgery? What about possible post infection (peri-implantitis)? Google dental implant failure if you want some more questions to ask and always get a second opinion. It has been my experience that dentists are very eager to place implants, but once there is a problem they do not know what to do.</p>
<p>I had no problems–didn’t need bone grafts. The process takes forever (I’ve heard that you can now get it done all in one day). Also, I got the flipper thing while going through the process because the tooth that was removed was in a spot you could see. I hated the flipper thing. It bothered me so much I ended up not wearing it–what a waste of money. My H’s company doesn’t offer dental insurance, so I paid full freight. IIRC each implant was about $4K. </p>
<p>@ACollegeFan, my opinion is probably influenced by having 4 successful implants and one bridge that’s only okay, but as a diabetic with the common bone issues associated with the disease, I found that providing a more stable platform for whatever is going in your mouth is a good idea. </p>
<p>I had a positive experience and was thinking of implant for my husband before he gets too old. But doctor said he didn’t need it, what he needs is a root canal because the tooth is still ok. Honestly, when my dad passed away, the teeth that he had left was not his natural teeth. Some people might have problem like most things, but not on average.
But I had a really good surgeon, he graduated top 1% of UCLA dental school or something like that.</p>
<p>If it’s your third molar isn’t what your wisdom tooth? Many people do not even have their wisdom teeth.</p>
<p>No, I used a wrong term. It’s the third from the back. What do they call them?</p>
<p>^ oops, missed that day at dental school 
</p>
<p>… More like never went. I looked it up. It’s the second premolar.</p>
<p>I had one on a front tooth two years ago. It was a long process and I almost didn’t go through with it because of the flipper tooth. My dentist was able to make a temporary bridge instead by just glueing/bonding a temp crown to the adjacent teeth. I had to be careful…no biting into fruit or crunchy bread. I broke it once on a sandwich but it was easily re-glued by the dentist!</p>