Missing teeth

If you suffer with missing teeth, you know it can be a huge problem with not only your confidence and ability to smile but also negatively affect your quality of life.

Inability to enjoy your favourite foods due to difficulty chewing also means that the rest of the standing teeth wear down faster due to excessive loading and pressure. 

It can often become a domino effect where losing one tooth causes others to fail imminently!

Modern Dentistry has a plethora of options for you- 

1. Dental Implant
2. Dentures
3. Dental Bridges

Dental bridges are used to replace missing teeth. They are ideal treatment for those patients  who don’t want to have a removable appliance such as dentures or aren’t able to have implants. They can restore chewing function and enhance your appearance to replace one tooth or more. No more worrying about gagging or having to remove an appliance when sleeping.

Dental bridges are made of crowns that fit over your natural teeth on either side of the space and the artificial teeth which bridge the gap. Apart from an Implant – supported bridge there’s also 3 other types of dental bridges such as-

A. Traditional dental bridge – The most common type of dental bridge that has crowns on both ends. A dentist bonds the crowns to your natural teeth on either side of the gap, and the artificial teeth fill in the space between. This bridge is used when you have broken down or heavily filled teeth on either side. 

B. Cantilever dental bridge- A cantilever bridge is similar to a traditional bridge however, there’s only a crown on one end, not both. So, when your dentist bonds the bridge onto your abutment tooth, the artificial tooth “hangs over” or extends across the gap.

C.Resin Bonded dental bridge- A resin-bonded bridge which can be Maryland or Rochette type- These are ultra-conservative bridge which Uses metal or ceramic wings instead of crowns to secure your bridge. A dentist bonds the wings to the backs of your neighbouring teeth to hold your bridge in place. Often used to replace premolar teeth (side teeth). They are great options for some but not all scenarios.

The type of bridge which suits you the best depends on varieties of different factors such as:

• Your age
• How many teeth are missing.
• Condition of neighbouring teeth either side and if the neighbouring teeth are natural
• The size of the gap.
• Overall health of your teeth & gums