What Are Dental Bridges?
Dental bridges are a restorative dental solution that replace one or more missing teeth. They are usually made of porcelain or composite materials, and fill the gap with artificial teeth.
The pontic is an artificial tooth in a bridge. There can be one or more, as needed. Pontics can be customized to match the colour, shape, and size of your natural teeth, ensuring a seamless blend with your smile.
The abutments are the anchor teeth on either side of the gap, which support and stabilize the pontic or pontics. The abutments can be natural teeth, usually with dental crowns, or dental implants.
Benefits of Dental Bridges
Leaving a gap can have a detrimental effect on your oral health; getting a custom dental bridge offers many advantages.
Reducing Uneven Stresses on Your Bite
A bridge prevents the negative impacts to your natural bite that occurs when you have a gap. It distributes forces more evenly across your dental arch, preventing excess stress on your remaining teeth.
Preventing Your Teeth From Shifting
Gaps left by missing teeth allow adjacent teeth to shift out of position, eventually causing them to loosen and fall out. Dental bridges fill these gaps to keep teeth aligned and secure.
Making Speaking and Eating Easier Again
Missing teeth can affect speech and pronunciation, and make eating more difficult. Dental bridges are secure teeth replacement options that make these daily activities easier again.
Supporting Your Facial Structure
With lost teeth, jawbone density can suffer, as bone loss occurs without teeth roots stimulating it. Dental bridges help by maintaining the spacing of your remaining teeth so they don't shift and fall out, exacerbating bone loss. This can eventually create a sunken look. Bridges maintain your facial structure and prevent these issues.
Filling in the Appearance of Missing Teeth
Bridges provide natural-looking artificial teeth, and are customized to match the colour and shape of your remaining teeth, so you do not have a visible gap.
Bridges vs. Dentures
Many patients are unfamiliar with the differences between bridges and dentures, but there are some significant differences.
Stability
Dental bridges are permanent restorations, and are firmly anchored in your mouth, as opposed to removable dentures. This allows bridges to stay more securely in place without slipping, even while eating or speaking.
Durability
With proper care and maintenance, dental bridges can last for many years, usually longer than traditional dentures.
Ease of Care
Dentures need to be removed and soaked overnight, brushed with a soft toothbrush, and cleaned with denture cleaner. Dental bridges on the other hand just require regular brushing and flossing - just like your other teeth - and cleaning under the bridge with a floss threader or waterpick.
Preservation of Jawbone and Facial Structure
Bridges help preserve bone density and facial structure; dentures do not provide this benefit.
