Here at Open Wide Dental, we strive each day to provide the best dental care for you and your family in Phoenix and the surrounding area.
If you happen to be missing one tooth or multiple teeth that are next to each other, you might need dental repair to the area. With the invention of implantable teeth, the number of bridges being made is decreasing, but there are lots of times when nothing but a bridge is still the best option for you and your mouth.
A bridge is typically comprised of false teeth and crowns. Crowns are put over your adjacent teeth that are called abutments, and your false teeth that are called pontics (artificial tooth) will be placed into the gap between them. Your anchoring teeth can be implants or real teeth.
The individual pontics are usually made of alloys, gold, porcelain or even a combination of all three. The kinds of dental bridges are differentiated by what material they have been created. In other words, based on the specific procedure used in placing the dental bridge or the location.
Your most common type of bridge will place crowns or the implants on each side of that space with a pontic between them. The pontic is created from porcelain that has been fused to ceramics or metal.
This particular procedure is not done much, but it is used when you have a missing tooth that has adjacent teeth found only on one side.
There is a resin-bonded bridge (Maryland bond) that is made up of a false tooth which is supported by the framework which is made up of porcelain or metal. The false tooth can be created from plastic or porcelain that is fused to metal, or from only porcelain.
There is a bridge that is called a partial denture, or a dental restoration to be used in replacing either one or more of your missing teeth by connecting permanently to some adjacent teeth. The bridge is made by reducing teeth on each side of your missing tooth or teeth by 0.5-2mm. All depending on the top or side of the tooth and which material will be used in making the bridge. Materials that have been used to make bridges are porcelain fused to metal, gold, or in the right situation porcelain by itself.
It will typically require 2-3 visits to finish this procedure. Your first visit will be for about 1-2 hours long. They usually numb the area around the teeth close to the missing tooth that will be reduced down with a dental bur by 0.5-2mm. Then an impression of this area can be sent to a specialty dental lab so they can make the dental bridge specific for you. There will be a temporary version of plastic for your dental bridge that will be created and that will be for you to wear for several weeks. The second visit will be for one of two reasons: 1) try part of your dental bridge or, 2) get the bridge. The timing of this visit is about ½ hour. If you have to come back for the third time, it will last for almost another ½ hour as well.
Visit us at Open Wide Dental for all your dental needs. We will be happy to put a smile back on your face.
We welcome patients from all surrounding locations to visit our dental office in Phoenix, AZ
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