A dental bridge lasts for an average of 5 to 7 years but can last for up to 15 years.
Dr. Natchi will perform an oral exam to assess the extent of your tooth loss and will take x-rays to ensure you’re in good oral health.
Two of your teeth on either side of the gap in your smile will need to receive dental crowns which will serve as the anchors for the bridge. To prepare the teeth for crowns, we will remove a small amount of tooth enamel to create room for crowns to be placed on top.
After filing down your teeth, we will take impressions of your mouth and send them to the dental lab that will fabricate your custom-made bridge.
Since we’ve filed down your teeth, you will need to wear an immediate temporary bridge to protect these teeth and they will help you eat until your official bridge is created.
After a few weeks, we will receive your official dental bridge and will call you back for a fitting. If everything feels and looks right, we will cement it in place.
A traditional fixed bridge involves filing down the two abutment teeth that are each located next to the missing tooth (gap) in your smile. These teeth are filed down under local anesthetic with a dental drill to prepare them to receive dental crowns. These crowns are the anchors of the bridge and a pontic tooth will be connected to them. The pontic tooth replaces the missing tooth and fills the gap.
As opposed to two abutment teeth receiving dental crowns, only one abutment tooth is needed to support a cantilever bridge. One tooth next to the gap will be filed down and receive a dental crown that is attached to a pontic tooth. A cantilever bridge can be used when there isn’t another tooth to support the bridge or the other tooth isn’t sufficiently healthy.
This is also known as a resin-bonded bridge. They are similar to the traditional dental bridge in that they involve the support of two teeth. However, instead of filing down these teeth and placing dental crowns over them, Maryland bridges don’t require any enamel removal at all.
Instead, wings that are placed behind the teeth which are connected to a metal wire framework hold the pontic tooth in place and they are bonded to the back of your teeth.
Implant-supported bridges are just like traditional fixed bridges except for instead of placing dental crowns over the two abutment teeth, these teeth are replaced with dental implants. The implants act as the anchors for the pontic tooth and this offers superior stability, strength, and durability.
An implant-supported bridge prevents bone resorption that would occur after losing a tooth.
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