How can we help you?
Here are some commonly asked questions from our patients over the years. Do you have other questions? Email us now and we'd be happy to respond!
Dental Crowns and Bridges
There are many possible reasons for this change in your smile. These reasons can include bruxism (teeth grinding), general decay, cracked fillings, root canals, and many others. If your tooth is beyond repair with a filling material, we may recommend that the best viable option to save the tooth is a full crown. The reasons for this type of restoration in a badly damaged tooth are durability, cosmetic appearance, and overall support of the chewing function.
A dental bridge is a false tooth or teeth, known as a pontic, which is fused between two porcelain crowns to fill in the area left by a missing tooth or teeth. The two crowns holding it in place that are attached onto your teeth on each side of the false tooth. This is known as a fixed bridge. This procedure is used to replace one or more missing teeth. Fixed bridges cannot be taken out of your mouth as you might do with removable partial dentures.
Bridges can reduce your risk of gum disease, help correct some bite issues and even improve your speech. Bridges require your commitment to serious oral hygiene, but will last as many years.
You could, but then adjoining teeth may shift and interfere with biting and chewing if you remove the tooth and fail to replace it. You may also consider placing an implant or fill in a missing space with a "dummy tooth" as part of a fixed or removable bridge. A fixed bridge may require removing adjacent, healthy tooth structure, and may be expensive and require even more dental treatment. If you can save your own tooth with any degree of long term predictability, then that would always be the first choice.