Dental Bridge

It happens that when a tooth is lost, the other nearby teeth tend to shift or move towards the space left by the missing tooth.

This may affect how you chew and bite and your jaw joints and teeth may be subjected to excess pressure leading to pain and discomfort. Moreover tilted or bent teeth are difficult to clean making them more prone to gum disease and decay.

When you lose a tooth, over time the supporting bone can shrink which may affect the support of other parts of your face including your cheeks and lips. Ultimately this can cause your face to appear wrinkly and old.

A bridge placement procedure usually requires that you visit your dentist more than once. Your dentist starts first by preparing the teeth found near the gap. The bridge will later on be attached on the prepared teeth.

After tooth preparation, your dentist creates your teeth-gap impression. This impression will be used by dental technicians in the lab to make you a permanent bridge. A temporary dental bridge will be placed on your teeth to protect them as your permanent bridge gets prepared.

Once your permanent bridge has been prepared, your dentist fits it inside your mouth while making adjustments where necessary. Once both your dentist and you are contented with the crown’s appearance and fitting then it is cemented into place. Note that the permanent bridge can only be professionally and safely removed by your dentist.

In case you have several missing teeth then you will need dental implants to support the bridge. Dental implants are essentially posts which are surgically inserted into the jawbone. With time the jawbone develops around the dental implants holding them firmly.

• Dental implants have one major benefit which is: they do not require support from neighboring teeth.
• To get dental implants, one should generally be healthy and have sufficient bone structure to provide support to the implants. Sometimes implants are used to prevent damage to a jawbone with missing teeth.
• You can have dental implants inserted in a single day but at times you may have to see your dentist more than once based on the treatment plan recommended.

Dental bridges can be made from ceramics (porcelain), metal or a mixture of these two materials. Usually, ceramics bridges are fixed with metal alloys. You need not worry about the material of the bridge because the dentist will recommend you the most suitable bridge material that will meet all your dental needs.

Damage to your teeth or jawbone may cause a bridge to fail. Therefore it is important to protect your mouth from dental diseases that may harm your teeth or jaw bone. You can keep your mouth clean and healthy by:

• Brushing your teeth two times daily and flossing at least once daily to get rid of plaque which is a sticky bacterial coating that keeps accumulating on the surface of teeth.
• Ensure that you floss in between teeth and also underneath the bridge. You can floss or use little brushes. Talk to your dentist to know which of these methods will be best for you and your bridge.
• Regularly visit your dentist for dental check-ups and professional cleaning of teeth.
• Eat foods that are healthy.