Restore Lost Teeth With a Dental Bridge
When you lose teeth, it can be embarrassing. You may tend to shield your smile with your hand more or retreat socially because of decreased self-confidence. Fortunately, there are ways our Portage, MI, dentist can repair your smile and one of those methods is a dental bridge.
By placing the bridge, we can effectively close the space created by missing teeth. The result is natural-looking and permanent so you don’t have to worry about the bridge slipping while talking or eating.
Here’s how this type of restoration method can help improve your oral health and smile.
Dental Bridges Explained
Appropriately named, a literally “bridges the gap” left by one or more missing teeth. It is a fixed, or permanent, solution that replaces lost teeth and gives you a beautifully natural smile.
Traditional dental bridges consist of two or more crowns with a false tooth in between. The crowns are placed over anchoring teeth on either side of the gap, also known as “abutment teeth”.
Bridges can also be supported by dental implants if natural teeth are not present.
Reasons You Might Need a Bridge
Every patient is different. Dr. Paul will need to examine your entire mouth to determine what will work best for you. We may even find that other restorative solutions like dental implants are the more appropriate choice.
The dental bridge procedure could be recommended if you’re experiencing:
- Severe tooth decay
- Trauma or injury to the mouth
- Periodontal disease
- Medical issues that prohibit the placement of dental implants
- Older age
What You Can Expect For the Procedure
First, Dr. Paul will start by preparing the adjacent, or abutment, teeth that will help support the bridge. The teeth will be reshaped and recontoured enough to allow for crown placement. Once this stage is complete, impressions of the teeth can be made.
We’ll send these impressions to a dental lab where they’ll use them to fabricate the bridge, crowns, and false tooth that will rest in between. While the bridge is being constructed, our dentist will give you a temporary bridge to wear so exposed teeth and gums are properly protected.
Dr. Paul will remove the temporary bridge and place the permanent version once all components are ready. Finally, he’ll make sure your bite and the fit of the bridge are correct. If anything feels off, please let us know and we will make alterations as needed.
Ways Dental Bridges Can Help
There are many advantages to having a dental bridge placed. The most obvious benefit is that they can help improve the appearance of your smile. This alone can provide a noticeable confidence boost and make it all worth it.
Dental bridges can also:
- Restore your ability to talk and chew food
- Help maintain the natural shape of your face
- Improve your speech or pronunciation
- Prevent your remaining teeth from shifting into undesirable positions
- Re-adjust your bite to properly distribute the force when you chew
Daily Care Tips
Your dental bridge will need to be taken care of to ensure your mouth remains healthy. You will have to be extra diligent about practicing oral hygiene habits after the is placed.
For example, the area where the fake tooth rests on the gums is difficult to clean and can result in plaque buildup. To combat this, rinse with mouthwash often, brush twice a day, and floss daily underneath the bridge.
Oral hygiene habits such as these will reduce inflammation and prevent cavities from occurring at the edge of the bridge. You may find that you need floss threaders or a water flosser to accurately reach areas underneath and in between.
Love Your Smile Again
We never want our patients to feel as though they have to hide their smile around others. Our restorative dentist in Portage, MI, will work with you to find the solution that suits your lifestyle best, whether it be a dental bridge or implants. Get started today by calling Courtside Dental at (269) 327-1011 or feel free to contact us online.
This blog post has been updated.