How Do Dental Bridges Work?
If you have one or more missing teeth, your dentist can use adental bridge to fill the missing tooth gap. Dental bridges are typically false teeth that are held into place by abutment teeth on either side. The false tooth is also called a pontic. Pontics are primarily made of porcelain, although they can be made of other materials like gold.
Who Needs a Dental Bridge
The Dentist in Hamilton, ON, uses dental bridges to replace missing teeth. The most common reasons people lose their teeth are dental decay, traumatic injury, and gum disease.
You may also have been born with a missing tooth, mainly resulting from a congenital condition. If you are not comfortable living with a gap in your jaw, then a dental bridge is a worthwhile treatment. Note that you need to have healthy teeth on both sides of the missing tooth to get a fixed bridge.
What is the Use for Tooth Bridges?
Teeth in your upper and lower jaws work together for proper functioning. If there is a missing tooth on either jaw, then teeth in the opposite jaw move into the space and cancause: Bite problems, Chewing difficulties, pain from the stress on the opposite teeth, and self-consciousness on your physical outlook.
Using a dental bridge can fix all this, giving you a beautiful smile and eradicating the chance of developing bite problems.
How Does a tooth bridge look like?
A typical dental bridge is made of the following:
- Abutment teeth – Two crowns are placed on either side of the missing tooth gap. They support the middle pontic, which is the artificial tooth that rests on the gap. The abutment teeth can be your teeth or a dental implant.
- Pontic – This is the false tooth that fills in the gap where the missing tooth was.
Various Types of Dental Bridges
Dental bridges in Hamilton, ON, are of four main types namely:
- Traditional Fixed Bridge
A conventional bridge where a pontic is held in place by dental crowns on either of its sides. Traditional bridges are the most popular type of tooth bridge. This type can only be applied when you have healthy teeth on either side of the gap.
- Cantilever Dental Bridge
It’s similar to the traditional dental bridge but uses only one dental crown cemented on the abutment tooth. In a cantilever dental bridge, only one natural tooth is needed on the missing tooth gap’s adjacent side. They are suitable for people who only have one tooth on the side of the missing teeth.
- Maryland Dental Bridge
Same as in a traditional dental bridge, the Maryland Dental Bridge uses two abutment teeth on either side of the false pontic tooth. The difference is that while traditional dental bridges use dental crowns as the abutment teeth, a Maryland bridge employs a framework of porcelain or metal that’s cleverly bonded on the backside of the abutment teeth.
Maryland dental bridge can only be used when the patient has natural teeth on either side of the gap. They are used primarily for front teeth.
- Implant-Supported Dental Bridge
As the name suggests, dentists in Hamilton use dental implants as opposed to crowns and frameworks. What happens is that a tooth implant is placed for every gap with a missing tooth. These implants then hold the dental bridge in position.
If it’s impossible to have an implant for every missing tooth, a pontic can be used but supported by two implants on each side.
At Jackson Square Dental Care, this type is regarded as the strongest and most stable dental bridge system. The dental bridge procedure needs two surgeries: placing the implants into the jawbone and another to place the dental bridge. The process can be complete in several months.
The Dental Bridge Procedure
The first visit involves the preparation of the abutment teeth. It involves contouring the teeth enamel to create space to fit the dental crown. Impressions of the teeth are then made. These will be used to create the whole dental bridge, including the pontic. The dentist in Hamilton then makes a temporary bridge that you will wear as you wait to complete the real bridge.
In the second visit, the temporary bridge is removed, then the dentist checks the porcelain /metal bridge for necessary adjustments. You might need multiple visits to review the fit if you are using a metal framework.
If the bridge is a fixed bridge tooth, it might be cemented temporarily for a few weeks to ensure the fit is proper. Afterward, it’s permanently cemented into place.