A dental bridge uses a porcelain crown to close the gap between teeth. We attach the teeth bridge to the adjacent teeth, either on one side or both sides of a dental crown.

What are the reasons to have teeth bridge?

Enhance your smile and appearance: If there is a gap in your teeth, the dental bridge will close that gap.

Improve your speech: If there are spaces or gaps in your mouth, your speech may not be optimal as you may lose sound through the space.

Improve your chewing function: The porcelain unit will replace the missing tooth and close the space in your mouth. This will make chewing much more pleasant, comfortable and improve the chewing.
Prevent teeth movement: If there is space between your teeth, the adjacent tooth can tilt or drift. This will create spaces between the other teeth, and food can get caught in the areas. This may lead to decay or gum related problems and recession.

Types of teeth bridges

1. Resin:  A tooth coloured crown is made using white filling material. We cement the crown onto the adjacent tooth. This is a cheap option, but the tooth coloured crown may become stained and may chip or break. Therefore this will need ongoing maintenance and generally requires frequent polishing and repairs.

2. Maryland: dentists use porcelain or zirconia to make this crown. This is stronger than the resin option. Sometimes porcelain is fused to the metal crowns to make it stronger.

3. Cantilever: This type is generally used to close the space in front teeth.

4. Implant-supported bridge unit: First the dental implants are placed in the gum bone. Then the bridge unit is fixed on the implants.

All these bridge units are permanently fixed in the mouth.

How is a tooth bridge made?

We perform a thorough dental check-up and clean your teeth to remove tartar or calculus. We take impressions to make a model of your mouth

The dentist uses the models to study and check your bite. They will decide what type of dental bridge to make.

In your next visit, the dentist shaves the adjacent tooth on either side of the gap. This will help guide the porcelain crown to sit in the space. After the preparation, we take final impressions, and the lab will make the final unit.

We may place a temporary crown on the prepared tooth and make a temporary bridge. We’ll later remove the temporary unit and glue the final one to the adjacent tooth.

How to look after the dental bridge units?

1. Brush your bridge unit and teeth as usual.

2. Flossing- There is a special floss to clean the teeth while you are having braces treatment for your crooked teeth. You have to use the same type of floss to clean the dental bridge. This floss has got stiff ends. You have to slide the stiff end underneath the bridge unit (between the gum and the bridge) and floss underneath and around the bridge unit and also the gum as well.

3. You should not bite unusual or hard objects. This activity may break the bridge.

4. Most people grind or clench their teeth while sleeping. This continuous pressure may fracture the bridge unit. If you are a clencher or teeth grinder, you have to wear a night guard or teeth splint while sleeping.

5. Wear a custom-made mouth guard when participating in contact sports.