Dental Bridges: Get Your Facts Right

Dental Bridges: Get Your Facts Right

Jul 01, 2020

The pontics, (another name for dental bridges), are held in place by the remaining teeth on both sides of the tooth-missing gap. One can either get permanent or temporary bridges depending on their preferences and their oral health condition. These fixed bridges are designed to function and look like real natural teeth.

Holland River Dental clinic offers dental bridge services, teeth cleaning, dental implants, and root canal treatment, among other dental services. Call us and book an appointment with dentists in Bradford.

You will have to see a prosthodontist or your regular dentist if you are considering getting dental bridges. A prosthodontist is a type of dentist who has specialized in replacing and restoring missing teeth. Having one or several missing teeth will affect your bite and cause you pain whenever you’re chewing food, and that will bring about eating difficulties forcing you to change your diet.

Who Needs a Bridge?

You may have to go and get your bridges if:

  • Your tooth is extensively decayed that your dentist extracts it or falls out
  • You have an infection that is extensively deep within your tooth such that neither root canal therapy nor a filling is sufficient.
  • Your teeth get damaged beyond repair in an accident

Types of Dental Bridges

The following are the types of dental bridges used by dentists:

  • Maryland Bridges

Maryland dental bridges are a conservative option to traditional dental bridges. They consist of fake teeth held in position by porcelain or a metallic framework that is bonded at the back of two adjacent teeth to the tooth that’s missing. This type of bridges will preserve your adjacent teeth as no filing will have to be done on them because Maryland bridges aren’t supported by crowns.

  • Traditional Bridge

Traditional bridges have gained wide popularity worldwide, and they are the most preferred by patients who go for bridges. Dental crowns are used to hold the fake teeth of this bridge in place. The other name for the crowns is abutments. The abutments are usually cemented on the teeth that are adjacent to the missing tooth.

The reason behind the popularity of traditional bridges is their strength. They are so strong such that they have the capabilities of replacing lost molars. This means that they are created in a way designed to withstand chewing trauma.

  • Cantilever Bridges

Cantilever bridges are used by dentists on patients’ who have only one tooth that offers support to the missing teeth. The use of this bridge at the back of a person’s mouth is not recommended because there’s too much biting force which the fake teeth cannot handle. However, it is the most recommended dental bridge when it comes to the replacement of front teeth.

The downside of this bridge is that the force is directed on one tooth only. This can cause a healthy tooth to fracture; therefore, their use is uncommon.

  • Implant-supported Dental Bridges

Implants can be defined as posts surgically placed inside the jaw to hold a bridge in place. Candidates for implant-supported bridges must have sufficient bone tissue to support a dental implant and also good oral and general health.

How is a Dental Bridge Fixed in Place?

It will take you more than one visit to the dentist to have your fixed bridge in place. During your first dental visit, the dentist will prepare the teeth neighboring your gap where the bridge is going to be attached.

An image or an impression of one’s teeth and space left by the lost tooth are then taken and sent to a dental lab. Lab technicians will use this information and the dentist’s guidelines to make your bridge.

When the making of your permanent bridge gets completed, your dentist will schedule an appointment with you where it will be fitted, adjusted, and cemented to the teeth that were previously prepared. You should know that such a type of dental bridges is permanent, and its quite impossible for them to be taken out of the mouth without seeking help from a dentist near you.

How to Properly Care for Dental Bridges

  • Have a good oral hygiene practice regularly to prevent decay.
  • Go the dentist at least twice in 12 months so that he or she can check your bridge and thoroughly clean your teeth.
  • Eat a balanced diet.

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