What is a Dental Bridge?
Replacing a lost tooth serves the dual purposes of restoring your smile’s appearance and reestablishing support for the teeth next to it. When missing a tooth, nearby teeth can drift towards the open space as they try to take up the slack in your bite.
A dental bridge is a fixed dental prosthetic that is commonly used to replace a lost tooth, or a couple of adjacent lost teeth. The prosthetic consists of two crowns on either side that are bonded onto healthy teeth (known as abutment teeth) for support. The replacement tooth, or pontic, rests between the crowns to fill the gap in your smile left by your missing tooth.
How many teeth can a dental bridge replace?
While dental bridges are often ideal for replacing a single lost tooth, they can also be used for more than one missing tooth if the teeth are adjacent to one another. Dr. Petto Messina will carefully inspect your teeth and dental ridge to determine if a dental bridge is the appropriate solution for your tooth replacement needs.
Can a dental bridge fit on dental implants?
For many patients, dental implants offer the most realistic option for replacing lost teeth. The small titanium posts are surgically inserted into the jawbone, and can support a bridge the way roots support healthy, natural teeth. A dental implant-supported bridge can effectively restore your smile without the need to modify healthy teeth for support.