Dental bridges
Dental Bridges are used to span, or bridge a gap (missing teeth) between healthy teeth. The teeth on either side of the empty space are reshaped and reduced in size. The two shaped teeth then act as anchors, or abutments. The bridge is attached to the living, health teeth and fills the missing tooth space. If you have 1, or more adjacent missing teeth, then using dental bridging crowns offers the translucency of a natural tooth and a permanent restoration along with functional and aesthetically looking tooth and/or teeth.
What are the advantages of dental bridges?
- They are natural in appearance.
- They generally require only two appointments with the dentist.
- They have a good life period, lasting for 10-15 years, providing you maintain good dental hygiene.
- They improve your appearance, bite issues and speech problems occurring as a result of missing teeth.
What are the disadvantages of dental bridges?
- Teeth become mildly sensitive to extreme temperatures for a few weeks.
- They require healthy tooth tissue from neighboring teeth to be prepared.
- Your teeth and gums are vulnerable to infection as a result of accumulation of bacteria due to the food acids (if proper hygiene is not maintained).
Implant vs Bridge
- A bridge requires placing crowns on the two adjacent teeth. Thus, three teeth are involved instead of one. Later, if there is a problem with any one of those teeth, usually the entire bridge needs to be replaced. A single dental implant is completely separate from any adjacent teeth and is treated separately.
- A dental implant helps preserve the bone. Otherwise, the bone where you have the missing tooth will shrink over the years.
- A dental implant can easily be made to look like it is growing out of the gum, so that it looks completely natural. Often, this illusion can also be created with bridges, but not always.
- If the teeth on either side of the missing tooth need crowns anyway, a bridge may be the most sensible choice.
