Leaving a gap is a decision too — and it costs bone, bite stability and often two more teeth within a decade.
The bone that held the root resorbs because nothing stimulates it. The opposing tooth over-erupts into the space, and the neighbours tilt. Ten years later the bite has changed, food traps between tilted teeth, and the case that needed one implant now needs three units of restoration.
A three-unit bridge is faster and cheaper up front, but it requires grinding down two healthy neighbouring teeth to stumps. Those teeth then carry double load and are at higher risk of needing root treatment later. It is the right answer when the neighbours are already crowned — and the wrong one when they are pristine.
An implant loads the bone directly, preserves it, and leaves the neighbours untouched. Placement takes under an hour and the total cost with a zirconium crown lands around €480 here.
A missing wisdom tooth or a lower second molar with no opposing tooth may not need replacing. That is a clinical judgement made on your X-ray — not a rule to apply to a front tooth.
Usually not, but bone may have resorbed. A CT scan tells us whether a graft is needed alongside the implant.