Bridges

The best teeth are our natural teeth but during our lifetime teeth are lost for different reasons

Accidents: sometime accidents happen and the outcome is losing our tooth- sport accidents, falling on ice, car accidents, etc. To avoid many of these accidents wearing a sportguard is recommended during sport activities.
Decay-if a tooth decay is not treated on time it can damage a tooth beyond our possibility to save it and the tooth will end up being extracted.
Periodontal disease- untreated advanced periodontal (gum) disease can lead to increase mobility, bone loss around the tooth, pain and eventually tooth loss.
Congenitally missing teeth-Anodontia is a condition when a tooth is not formed. Most common missing teeth are: second premolars, lateral incisors, wisdom teeth. Usually the primary-baby- tooth is present and retained until late in life.

If a tooth is lost, it is important to be replaced as soon as possible. The reason for replacing missing teeth is to avoid drifting of remaining teeth that will change the bite and can cause temporomandibular joint problems. Teeth that change their position are harder to clean and are more prone to periodontal (gum) disease and cavities.

When one or more teeth area missing there are different treatment options available:

Bridges

A bridge, also called a "fixed bridge" or a fixed dental prosthesis is a dental restoration that replaces one or more missing teeth. It extends across an area that has no teeth and is typically made up of an artificial tooth fused between 2 crowns.

How a bridge is made

Usually one healthy tooth-called abutment-on each side of a missing tooth (or teeth) will be filed down to prepare them for the bridge. Next, we take an impression and make a model of your teeth. The model is used to custom-make the artificial tooth (or teeth) and 2 crowns as one piece. This piece is called a bridge. Meanwhile a temporary bridge is fabricated and placed in your mouth to protect the exposed teeth. During your second visit, the temporary bridge is removed and the custom made bridge is placed in your mouth and cemented to the abutments.

Bridges can be made from porcelain, porcelain fused to metal or metal.

There are 3 types of dental bridges:

Traditional dental bridges- are the most common type of bridge and involve creating crowns on the abutments that can be teeth or implants and a pontic in between
Maryland bonded bridges- involve using bonded wings instead of crowns on abutments
Cantilever bridges- are used when adjacent teeth on only one side of the missing teeth are used as support for the bridge