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If you’re looking to restore your smile, options like dentures, bridges, and implants work wonders. But the price tag and potential surgery can be a bit daunting.
Here’s where tooth transplantation might interest you. It’s a real procedure, and it might be a surprisingly good solution. Often, it’s even less expensive than the usual replacements. Let’s dive into what a tooth transplant is all about.
Imagine losing a tooth, and the dentist moves one of your healthy teeth from another part of your mouth to fill the gap. It sounds wild, but it’s possible—though you can’t donate a tooth to someone else like an organ.
This procedure is called autogenous tooth transplantation.2 In this process, your healthy tooth becomes the “donor tooth.”
While you can’t give your teeth to a friend, you can donate them to help dentists-in-training or for dental research.8
Let’s say you’re a teen who lost a molar to bad decay. That missing tooth can mess with your jaw growth and how your other teeth line up. You can’t get a dental implant until you’re well into your 20s, but using your wisdom tooth as the donor tooth can work.
Your dentist will take the wisdom tooth and move it into the position of the lost molar.2 Dentists call this molar substitution.
They might even team up with an orthodontist to use braces and carefully shift your wisdom tooth into the empty spot. It’s a little different than an autogenous tooth transplantation.
A donor tooth transplant might be the perfect solution if you have a badly damaged tooth, want to avoid artificial replacements, or aren’t quite ready for implants.
But, like any dental procedure, there’s a checklist to ensure it’s a good match. Here’s what your dentist looks for:
If all these qualifications are met, you might just be the perfect candidate for a tooth transplant.
This is what you can expect during a tooth autotransplantation procedure:
Before the transplant, your dentist will run extensive checkups on the potential donor tooth and the empty spot in your mouth called the recipient site.
These checkups ensure your donor tooth is in perfect condition:5
Even a tooth with a fully grown root can still be a donor, but it’ll need extra preparations like a root canal.
During the tooth autotransplantation procedure, your dentist will:
Your dentist will tailor a recovery plan just for you, but here’s the general idea of what you’ll do during post-transplant recovery:
Follow these steps, and you’ll give your transplanted tooth the best chance for success.
While tooth autotransplantation offers exciting possibilities, it’s essential to be aware of the potential risks involved. Consider these factors before making your decision:
Both tooth transplants and dental implants aim to restore your smile, but they go about it differently. Let’s discuss the key differences:
The term “autogenous” means “within the body.” Your own healthy tooth becomes a donor instead of taking a replacement from an external source (as in the case of an organ transplant).
Dental implants and crowns are lab-made artificial teeth. A titanium screw is surgically placed into the jawbone, and then a custom crown is attached.
For tooth transplantations, you need a healthy donor tooth ready to go. Plus, not all dentists perform this specialized procedure since it’s still very new.
Dental implants, on the other hand, are widely available and ready when you need them.
Your transplanted tooth has natural roots to bond with the surrounding tissues. Meanwhile, a dental implant integrates through osseointegration—the titanium implant fuses directly with your jawbone.
Sometimes, tooth transplantation isn’t the best option for you. This may be due to the following reasons:
Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer, as prices can vary depending on several factors:
The good news is that tooth autotransplantations tend to be less expensive than dental implants. One study even suggests the cost could be significantly less than a single implant treatment.9
It’s impossible to get a reliable cost estimate without talking to a dentist. They can look at your specific situation and give you a personalized breakdown of what you can expect to pay.
Research on how long transplanted teeth last is still ongoing, but the results so far are promising. Some studies have covered the survival rate of autogenous tooth transplantation over a few years.
One study showed that after 5 years, 83.1% of transplanted teeth were still healthy and going strong.13
Another study followed patients for about 11.9 years. An impressive 80% of those transplants were still successful—the teeth were healthy and working perfectly.9 Even better, 95% of transplanted teeth in that study were still in place, even if they weren’t all perfectly healthy.9
Tooth autotransplantation is a complex procedure with both benefits and risks, so we recommend consulting your dentist to see if it’s the right solution for you.
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