Having an implant takes a lot more maintenance than regular teeth and no one really knows the long-long term results (modern implants haven't been around long enough).
While an implant may offer a much better quality of life vs having a severely poor tooth (or none at all), don't be fooled into thinking you just get one and then you're set for life.
They are considered an excellent option in a lot of cases, but you should never sacrifice your real teeth. You trade in worrying about cavities (real teeth) to worrying about a bunch of implant specific problems. All of which are waaaaaay scarier than cavities.
Cavities are not the problem. Abscesses and infections are the problem.
An untreated abscess can have very severe consequences, up to and including death from sepsis.
Implants need to be kept clean, and the risk of infection is slightly higher than with normal teeth. But they rarely become a bacterial reservoir - which isn't a rare consequence for the roots of normal teeth when they're not kept as least as clean.
I was not warned about any implant specific problems during my implant last month, nor have I experienced any in the 20 years since my first implant. I was told they date back to the 60s. There is no extra maintenance of any kind. It is, in my case, a 100% replacement for the real tooth.
The anchor does, I think, prevent you from getting braces later on if you should need them.
Let's say something substantially better comes out 5 years from now.
Do you really want to be a guinea pig for that?
You may end up waiting 10 or 15 years after the new thing comes out just to make sure it's properly field tested and successful in a majority of people. Plus, you still don't know how long it will really last because there's no real world data.
Then there's the whole skill level of the surgeon placing the implant.
Some dentists take 2 day seminars to learn how to place implants, and are able to start doing them on real people afterwards. Do you really want that guy to do the job for you?
Because it's going to take 5+ years before anyone builds up enough experience to be even be in a spot to say "I'm really comfortable placing these things because I've seen it all".
While an implant may offer a much better quality of life vs having a severely poor tooth (or none at all), don't be fooled into thinking you just get one and then you're set for life.
They are considered an excellent option in a lot of cases, but you should never sacrifice your real teeth. You trade in worrying about cavities (real teeth) to worrying about a bunch of implant specific problems. All of which are waaaaaay scarier than cavities.