Contact Us

Dental Bridges Fill The Gap Of Missing Teeth

Losing a tooth certainly impacts the look of your smile, but did you know that untreated dental loss can impede your bite and compromise your oral health? A dental bridge offers practical treatment for replacing one or more missing teeth in a row. When designing a traditional bridge, we place two dental crowns on supporting teeth neighboring your gap and position lifelike prosthetic teeth between them. 

How A Dental Bridge Prevents Complications From Losing Teeth

Because you rely on each of your teeth to form your smile, a single missing tooth can have an immediate effect on your bite and oral health. As you adjust to your new smile, you can quickly find your quality of life beginning to degrade. Pain can appear in your jaw and facial muscles as you awkwardly shift your bite to avoid harming your open socket. Without treatment, this repetitive motion can even lead to a condition called TMJ disorder.

As remaining teeth take a disproportionate amount of force, they can lose their protective enamel layer. This exposes more sensitive inner layers, increasing your risks for tooth decay and gum disease. Because gum infection is the primary cause of dental loss among adults, an untreated missing tooth can lead to many more. 

Preparing Your Bridge

Your dental bridge placement can often be completed within two appointments. First, we will prepare your support teeth to receive their crowns. We then take an impression of your bite to determine the size and shape of your prosthetic. While you wait for the fabrication of your permanent bridge, we will provide a temporary tooth to protect your bite. At your second visit, we will remove the temporary bridge and bond your restoration in place using dental cement.

Implant-Supported Bridges

If your jaw is healthy enough to support a dental implant, we can design an implant-supported bridge to restore multiple adjacent missing teeth. At your consultation, we will measure your bone’s density to determine if an implant post can be secured permanently. If you lack the necessary density but would like to move forward, we can suggest a bone graft procedure to provide additional tissue.