A dental bridge replaces one or more missing teeth by joining a false tooth to crowns on the teeth either side of the gap. It is fixed in place and does not come out at night. At Dentistry For You in Broken Arrow, a bridge is one of three ways to deal with a gap, and which is right depends mostly on the condition of the neighbouring teeth.
A missing back tooth is easy to live with and easy to ignore, but it does not stay a simple gap.
Teeth are held in position by the ones around them. Remove one and the teeth either side start to tilt into the space, while the tooth opposite it, with nothing to meet, gradually over-erupts. That changes how the bite meets, which loads other teeth in ways they were not built for and makes cleaning the tilted teeth harder.
The jawbone in the gap also begins to shrink, because bone maintains itself in response to the forces a tooth root transmits. That matters if you later want an implant there, because by then a graft may be needed first.
The teeth either side of the gap are prepared for crowns. The bridge is made as one piece: a crown at each end and a false tooth, called a pontic, joined between them. It is cemented on and stays there.
Because the supporting teeth carry the load of the missing one, they need to be strong enough to take it. That is the main limit on where a bridge is appropriate.
Call the front desk and we will find you a time that works.
A bridge makes most sense when the teeth either side already need crowns. In that case the preparation is work you were having done anyway, and the gap gets filled at the same time.
It makes least sense when those teeth are healthy and have never been touched, because a bridge requires cutting them down for the rest of their lives. In that situation an implant is usually the better answer: it leaves the neighbours alone, it preserves the bone, and it is cleaned like an ordinary tooth. The trade-off is time and cost, because an implant involves surgery and several months of healing.
A removable partial denture is the third option. It is the least expensive and requires no preparation of other teeth, but it comes out at night and is less comfortable. See the dentures page.
We will go through all three for your specific gap rather than recommending one by default.
At the first visit the supporting teeth are numbed and prepared, impressions are taken, the shade is matched and a temporary bridge is fitted.
The laboratory makes the bridge over a couple of weeks. At the second visit it is tried in and checked: fit at each margin, how the pontic sits against the gum, shade, and the bite. Once that is right it is cemented.
This is the part that decides how long the bridge lasts. Because the units are joined, floss cannot be passed down between them in the usual way. You thread it underneath the false tooth using a floss threader or superfloss, or use a small interdental brush.
Plaque left under the pontic causes gum inflammation and decay at the margins of the supporting crowns, and those crowns are holding the whole thing up. We will show you the technique at the fitting and check it at every visit.
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It depends on the teeth either side of the gap. If they already need crowns, a bridge uses work you were having anyway. If they are healthy and untouched, an implant avoids cutting them down, and it also preserves the bone in the gap, which a bridge does not. An implant takes months; a bridge takes weeks.
Ten to fifteen years is a reasonable expectation. Bridges fail most often because of decay or gum disease affecting a supporting tooth, not because the bridge itself breaks, so cleaning underneath it matters a great deal.
Normal floss will not pass through, because the bridge is joined across the gap. You use a floss threader or a superfloss to pass floss under the false tooth, or a small interdental brush. We will show you at the fitting. This is the single biggest factor in how long the bridge lasts.
A well-made porcelain bridge is hard to pick out. The hardest part is the false tooth where it meets the gum, because there is no tooth emerging from the tissue. Shaping the underside so it sits neatly against the ridge is what makes the difference.
Bridge, implant or partial denture. We will go through the trade-offs for your particular gap.