Dental Bridge An Overview
Dental bridges are made of a metal structure with one or more porcelain teeth anchored by adjacent teeth or dental implants. They commonly replace a single tooth or a row of consecutive missing teeth. We design the bridge to look and feel as much like your natural teeth as possible. When you’re showing off your smile, people shouldn’t be able to tell that you have a restoration.
Traditional Dental Bridges
Traditional bridges are usually removable and use your natural teeth to anchor them in your mouth. They’re quicker and easier to get compared to implant-supported bridges because they don’t require a surgical component. They’re also cheaper for this reason. We recommend these as a temporary solution or to test the restoration out.
Because they use your natural teeth as anchors, those natural teeth take on a lot of stress from the bridge. We must remove tooth structure to prepare the teeth to support the bridge. Some of this stress can be alleviated by placing dental crowns on these anchor teeth. The crowns will take on the stress of the bridge instead of your natural teeth. However, we must remove even more tooth structure to place a dental crown.
Removable bridges take more upkeep to maintain them as well. You must take them out and clean them properly daily to avoid bacteria and debris buildup. Wearing them too long can irritate your mouth because they aren’t meant to be a permanent fixture.
Implant-Supported Dental Bridges
Instead of relying on existing teeth to support a dental bridge, this option uses dental implants on either side of the span instead. We recommend this option whenever possible to our patients. It doesn’t compromise more healthy teeth like the removable option. However, it is a more involved process and costs more as well. Dental implants require surgical placement into your jaw. After they’re placed, they require 3-6 months of healing before the final restoration is placed.
Unlike with traditional bridges, you get many benefits from the implants. They replace the tooth root, stopping jawbone deterioration from continuing. Removable bridges must be readjusted or replaced, possibly multiple times in your lifetime. The jawbone continues to deteriorate, constantly changing the fit of the bridge. It has to fit in a certain way to ensure you can actually use the restoration.
You also get back almost 100% of your bite function. Removable bridges require you to remove certain foods from your diet because they put too much stress on the restoration. This isn’t a problem with implant-supported ones.
Implant-supported bridges are fairly easy to take care of. You just have to brush like you would your natural teeth. You may need special tools to ensure you can floss around the bridge correctly, but otherwise, nothing much changes. They’re a permanent fixture in your mouth; you never have to take them out.