When you lose a tooth, or as many as three in a row, you need prosthetic to avoid the negative impacts of missing teeth. To address minor tooth loss, our team could create and secure a custom and lifelike dental bridge. In today’s blog, your Brighton, MA, dentist talks about how we design and place a custom dental bridge.
The Factors Behind Minor Tooth Loss
How do you lose natural teeth? For some, this could be due to untreated cavities or an infection, or possibly due to an injury to the face or mouth. But the most common cause is gum disease, or more actually, the advanced stage known as periodontitis. When you suffer from tooth loss, the body will stop the flow of calcium and phosphorus to the jaw, which means weakened jawbone structure and further tooth loss. You could also develop misalignment and with it, a greater risk of tooth decay and gum disease. TMJ disorder and bruxism (chronic teeth grinding) are more likely too. Don’t let your oral health and smile beauty suffer, talk to our team about a dental bridge.
The Process of Creating Custom Prosthetics
To get started, our team will numb your smile so we can remove structure from the teeth on each side of the gap, known as abutment teeth. We then take detailed digital images of your smile from multiple angles, so we can design and attach the finished product with precision and accuracy. The finished bridge contains new teeth, known as pontics, with crowns attached to each end. The prosthetic is made from materials like ceramic, which looks natural and can be color-matched to blend with your smile. The same material can also absorb daily bite forces and pressures with ease too.
Securing Your Replacement Tooth
For a traditional one, our team will attach the crown portions to your abutment teeth, which secures your teeth firmly in place. The prosthetic can last about 10 to 15 years, requiring replacement as your jaw ridge changes shape. However, we can also insert one to two dental implants to support a bridge, which means no need to remove structure from abutment teeth. Since implants act as new roots, this means your bridge can stay in place for decades to come, possibly a lifetime. If you have any questions about how we design and craft a custom prosthetics, or about whether we will secure them with crowns or dental implants, then contact our team those. We want to help you enjoy a full smile again!
Talk to Brighton Family Dental About Addressing Tooth Loss
Our team wants to help you maintain a full and beautiful smile, and that means addressing tooth loss. Learn more about replacing missing teeth by giving us a call at Brighton Family Dental Group in Brighton, MA, today at (617) 562-5210.
