Tooth implant really necessary?

[Cristina Montenegro]

Hi all,

First of all thanks to anyone that can provide me with some help.

I got my right lower second molar removed in April. My original plan was to put a tooth implant after the healing of the wound, but now I realized that I can bite properly in that side of the mouth and the gap cannot be seen, unless I open my mouth a lot, so as far as I know, the loss of the tooth is not causing me any problem. My questions is, what are the consequences of not putting an implant and leave the gap as it is? Could this cause any harm to other teeth? I don’t want that this can cause the loss of more teeth in the future, but I also don’t want to implant a piece of metal in my mouth unless is really necessary.

Thanks for your help!

 

[honestdoc]

Unless you are in Class 2 molar Angle's malocclusion, the upper 2nd molar is left unopposed if it is present. The unopposed molar will continue to erupt down until opposed (gums?) This takes years to happen. If you don't have the upper 2nd molar, you don't need an implant at that location.

In my opinion, it is harder to place an implant further in the future due to further flattening of the bone. An option is to wait until the hyper-erupting molar causes a problem and extract it. Where I practice, not everyone can afford an implant so this option seems to be the most followed.