Understanding the Benefits & Types of Dental Bridges before Getting Them As Missing Tooth Replacements

Missing teeth among adults are standard, and if you have lost one or more teeth, your dentist can bridge the gap in your smile with dental bridges. Dental bridges consist of a fake tooth called Pontic held by supporting teeth called abutments on either side of the missing tooth gap. Various materials like gold help make pontics, but generally, Palm Harbor Smiles prefers to make them from porcelain to blend aesthetically with your remaining teeth.

What Are Dental Bridges?

Dental bridges are missing tooth replacements that help restore the functionality of your mouth and smile after you lose one or more teeth due to decay, infections, or injuries. When you start displaying the gaps in your smile resulting from missing teeth, you can contact the dentist office near you for replacement solutions to overcome the challenges you encounter. The dentist will likely recommend dental bridges as a suitable solution because they last for over a decade with appropriate dental hygiene and don’t need removal from your mouth for cleaning as it is familiar with dentures.

Advantages of Dental Bridges

Missing teeth in your mouth impact you in several ways. Besides having a gap in your smile, you encounter challenges when eating or chewing foods, making it difficult to keep yourself nourished. Missing teeth also have an adverse impact on your remaining teeth, which begin shifting towards the edentulous gaps creating problems with your bite. If you don’t replace the missing teeth, you may have to invest in orthodontic treatments to straighten your teeth.

Dental bridges help maintain the shape of your face, which begins sagging because your jawbone deteriorates for lack of stimulation from biting and chewing. You also confront problems with your speech and start slurring words.

Dental bridges can address all the adverse impacts affecting you from loss of teeth. Therefore it helps if you discuss getting dental bridges with the dentist near you to overcome the challenges you experience.

Types of Dental Bridges

When considering dental bridges near you, do not assume you can make a choice before you discuss the replacement solution with the dentist in Palm Harbor. There are four types of dental bridges currently available, and the dentist is the optimal professional to determine which type is suitable for your situation. The types of dental bridges available are traditional, cantilever, Maryland, and implant-supported bridges.

• Traditional bridges consist of a fake tooth or teeth held by dental crowns cemented to the abutment teeth. Traditional bridges are famous and are advantageous if you have original teeth on both sides of the gap left by the lost tooth.
• Cantilever bridges are similar to traditional bridges but require merely one natural tooth adjacent to the missing tooth gap.
• If you have lost a front tooth, the palm harbor dentist recommends a Maryland bridge utilizing a framework of porcelain with wings for support instead of dental crowns.
• Implant-supported bridges are beneficial if you don’t have any natural teeth to support your dental bridges. Implant-supported bridges are incredibly durable and the most stable. However, they require at least two surgeries. The first surgery is to embed the dental implant in your jawbone, and the second is to place the dental bridge.

Which Dental Bridge Can You Have?

The type of dental bridge you can have is best determined by Dr. Cecilia Sorelle after evaluating your mouth, how many teeth you need to fill the gap, the materials you select for the dental bridges, the complexity of the placement, and any additional treatments you need before getting dental bridges.

As mentioned earlier, if you have a missing front tooth, you can either have a Maryland bridge or even consider an implant-supported bridge if you are in good physical and oral health. However, if you choose the latter, you must prepare yourself for considerable expenditure and lengthy healing times before you can get a replacement tooth in your mouth.

If you have a missing tooth in the posterior region of your mouth with natural teeth adjacent to the missing tooth gap, the dentist provides a traditional bridge requiring at least two dental appointments spanning over three weeks to restore the missing tooth. Therefore the best option for you is to consult with the dentist about which dental bridge suits your situation the best because dentists are, after all, the experts in dental anatomy.