Procedures

Dental Bridges

When a patient has a gap between their teeth or is missing one or more teeth, a dental bridge is often used. The bridge consists of one or more false teeth, which essentially acts as any bridge would by connecting two points that were otherwise not connected. Gaps between your teeth have the potential to endanger your dental health by causing shifts, which result in painful changes to your bite. Dental bridges help to alleviate this problem by using the two surrounding teeth as anchors to hold a false tooth in place where the gap is. Typically, porcelain crowns are also placed over the surrounding teeth and the false tooth in order to create a pontic, or fuse, between them.

 

Types of Dental Bridges

  • A traditional fixed bridge is the most common type of dental bridge in which porcelain crowns are placed over the two surrounding teeth and used as anchors to hold the false tooth in place. The false tooth is typically made from either porcelain fused to metal or ceramics.

  • A cantilever bridge is used when teeth are present on only one side of the gap. These bridges work best when they are used in areas of the mouth that do not experience an intense chewing load, such as your front teeth.

  • In a resin-bonded bridge, metal bands are bonded to the surrounding teeth with resin and used to hold a plastic false tooth in place. Similar to cantilever bridges, this type of bridge is used in areas of the mouth that undergo less stress, such as the front teeth.

 

How it’s done

A minimum of two visits is typically required to our Austin dental office & clinic in order to be fitted with a dental bridge. At the first appointment, the surrounding teeth will be prepared to be fitted with the crown. This may include filing down the tooth so that the crown can fit properly. Then, an impression will be taken of your teeth, which will be sent to a laboratory to prepare the final bridge and crown. Finally, Dr. Sharma will fit your teeth with a temporary bridge in order to protect them in the interim.

 

At your second visit, Dr. Sharma will remove the temporary bridge and replace it with the newly received final bridge. Once the bridge is fitted and adjusted, your procedure will be complete. It’s important to note that additional visits may be necessary to check and adjust the fit of your new bridge accordingly.