Are implants the ONLY solution to replacement of missing teeth??

Implant dentistry as we all know has grown leaps and bounds in the last few decades as there has been immense research and also due to advances in technology since the time Prof Branemark invented the concept. Therefore the success rate is predictable and it remains as one of the best methods for replacement of missing teeth. Needless to say it is an expensive modality of treatment and only the patients who can afford can undergo the treatment for replacement of missing teeth and it also implies that implant dentistry is quite lucrative to the practitioner. Additional costs for bone grafts and adjunctive procedures like sinus lift also involve huge expenses. There have been failures in implant dentistry as well due to various reasons which range from improper case selection, inadequate surgical protocol to poorly designed occlusal scheme. Therefore the practitioner needs to be trained in implant dentistry to be equipped with the necessary skills. The treatment with implants involves lot of diagnostic procedures to assess the quantity and quality of the bone and of course there are other parameters such as patients health concerns. And the loading time as not all cases mandate immediate loading. The patients need to be informed of all these factors before a final decision regarding the modality of replacing missing teeth can be arrived at. The patients must also be informed of other modalities for replacement of missing teeth such as fixed denture prosthodontics and removable prosthodontics with the advantages, disadvantages and the costing. Unfortunately the options for replacement of missing teeth are not given to the patients sometimes and it is informed that implants are the ONLY method of replacement of missing teeth. It is important that the patients are well informed and the decision is left to the patient and we as dentists can assist the patient in making a fair decision. Lets incorporate more of ethics to our practice and enrich patients lives by improving the standard of care!! This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.