By far and away, dental implants are the best treatment for a missing tooth. The procedure has become so quick and painless that there really is no reason to explore this option to replace a missing tooth.
So may worry about the cost, but you have to think of the cost of not replacing a tooth in such a minimally invasive procedure in respect to the other teeth. The ability to replace a tooth without having to touch the other teeth cannot be diminished.
This treatment allows your bite to remain strong and all of the remaining teeth to work together and support each other as they were designed to do. If this system gets interrupted, it is only a matter of time before other problems start to manifest themselves.