If you feel embarrassed about gaps in your smile, a natural-looking dental bridge can successfully fill in those unsightly spaces and help restore your confidence. A longer lasting alternative to dentures, dental bridges are an effective way to replace one or more missing teeth. They consist of a false tooth supported by adjacent teeth called abutments. Bridges can either be of fixed type or adhesive type. They can also be supported by implants. Wherever possible we aim to make metal free bridges.
Benefits
As well as restoring an incomplete smile, bridges can offer a host of other benefits, including:
- Improving how you eat and speak.
- Enhancing facial contours.
- Distributing the forces in your bite correctly.
- Preventing remaining teeth from moving out of position.
Treatment steps
- Appropriate preparation are made on the abutment teeth. This will vary on the type of bridge.
- Impressions are taken so the bridge can be tailor-made to fit.
- While the bridge is being made, a temporary bridge may be put in place to protect the exposed teeth.
- When ready, the bridge is checked and adjusted to make sure it fits perfectly and it is finally fixed in place with strong dental cement.
Aftercare
Good oral hygiene is essential to ensure the longevity of your bridge. It is especially important to clean under the false tooth, as well as brushing and flossing regularly.
If bridges are well looked after, and that includes keeping the surrounding teeth healthy so they can continue to provide a solid foundation, they should last for up to ten years.