Benefits of a Dental Bridge
A dental bridge, also known as a fixed dental bridge or fixed partial denture, is a good tooth replacement option that offers many benefits:
- Highly attractive
- Natural in appearance — people won’t know you’ve lost a tooth
- Preserve spacing
- Maintain bite force
- Stay in place
These benefits make dental bridges a good choice if you’ve lost a tooth and are looking for a fully functional replacement.
Before
After
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What Is a Dental Bridge?
In a dental bridge, one or more dental crowns are attached to one or more false teeth. The dental crowns go over surviving natural teeth and provide support for the false teeth. The most common size of dental bridge has three units: two dental crowns on either side of a single false tooth. This type of dental bridge provides good support and doesn’t result in too much excess force on the supporting teeth.
One type of bridge that is being used less often these days is a cantilevered bridge, which just has one dental crown that supports the false tooth. These are sometimes used at the back of a dental arch where the tooth that is lost only has a neighbor on one side.
Comparing Dental Bridges to Removable Dentures and Dental Implants
Dental bridges are better tooth replacement options than removable partial dentures. The dental crowns provide better support than the hooks and clasps that dentures use for support. This makes them fully functional for eating, talking, and smiling — you never have to worry that they’ve slipped out of place. Dental bridges are more comfortable. The hooks and clasps of removable dentures can lead to wear and decay on the supporting teeth, unlike the dental crowns of a dental bridge that can actually support and repair damaged or decayed teeth.
Dental bridges are not as good a tooth replacement option as dental implants in most cases. Dental implants support themselves, which means that they don’t need your neighboring teeth to be modified to support them. This avoids the situation where a dental bridge, especially a cantilevered bridge, can lead to excessive force on a supporting tooth, leading to failure of that tooth. A dental bridge doesn’t stimulate your jawbone or support your gums, so in some cases your body’s natural removal of jawbone material can lead to a collapse of your gums under the dental bridge.
In order to decide which is the right tooth replacement option for you, you have to talk to a cosmetic dentist in person. Please call (910) 392-6060 or email Kuzma Advanced Dentistry.