What is a Dental Bridge, How is it Made?
Dental bridges are one of the most preferred methods.
The dental bridge is applied in order to eliminate the deficiencies caused by tooth loss. The dental bridge restoration ensures that missing teeth are completed by taking support from the neighbouring teeth located on both sides of the gap and creating a bridge between the teeth in question.
A dental bridge can successfully fill large or small gaps between teeth. Different types of bridges can be used depending on the materials used and the connection of the restoration with the supporting teeth. Dental bridge construction has been used for a very long time in the treatment of missing teeth, as it can be completed in a very short time.
What is a Dental Bridge?
A dental bridge is a fixed dental prosthesis treatment used to replace the missing tooth in the mouth. Since at least one abutment tooth or implant is required for dental bridge application, it cannot be applied to toothless patients. The dental bridge application is performed by a prosthetic dentist.
Dental bridge; It is performed in order to restore lost function, aesthetics and phonation. Prostheses can be made from many materials, but the most appreciated in terms of strength and durability are ceramic bridges with a metal infrastructure.
How Are Dental Bridges Made?
Dental bridge construction is carried out by taking support from healthy teeth and filling the gaps created by lost teeth. Dental bridge application can be applied for one or more dental cavities, depending on its type. The important point in dental bridge application is the need for healthy adjacent teeth that can be supported on the left and right sides.
During the first examination at the dentist, the type of dental bridge is decided based on the missing tooth. Once the bridge is decided, the left and right neighbouring teeth, which will provide support, are filed and slightly reduced. The purpose of this procedure is to provide sufficient space for the preparation of the new tooth.
Once the teeth are filed, measurements are taken for the bridge tooth to be prepared. With the filing of the supporting teeth, the sensitive dental layer called dentine is formed. Until the permanent bridge tooth treatment is applied, a temporary bridge tooth is placed in order to avoid cold/hot sensitivity of the teeth.
The dental bridge whose impressions have been taken is prepared in approximately 3 to 10 days. When the bridge arrives at the dentist, a first trial is carried out. The dental bridge; Functional and aesthetic properties such as compatibility with other teeth in the mouth, size, colour similarity and tooth closure are checked. If a problem is detected, the problem is quickly resolved by the dentists, then the dental bridge is permanently fixed.
Types of Dental Bridge
Dental bridge types are applied clinically in practice with 4 different methods. These are:
Traditional
Cantilever
Maryland Bridge
Implant-Supported
The main purpose of dental treatments is to preserve healthy dental tissues as much as possible. For this reason, different types have been developed to protect neighbouring teeth. Bridge prostheses are generally classified according to the type of attachment to the neighbouring tooth that provides support.
For traditional prosthesis application, the healthy tooth adjacent to the missing tooth area is cut and reduced. In addition, there are bridges that can be made without the need to cut neighbouring teeth. In restoration processes; Different types of materials such as porcelain bridge, metal alloys and zirconium can also be used.
Traditional Bridge:
In this type of bridge, there are crowns covering the teeth on both sides of the cavity and a body tooth that will replace the missing tooth. The body tooth has the shape of the missing tooth and is fixed to the teeth on both sides of the cavity with crowns.
In such restorations, for the bridge to remain stable, the natural teeth adjacent to the cavity must be reduced by slight abrasion. The greatest advantage of its traditional approach is an aesthetic dental appearance and solid retention. Restorations made by bonding on abutment teeth do not fall off easily.
Cantilever Bridge (suspended)
Cantilever bridges, also called suspended bridges, are preferred if there are solid teeth on only one side of the gap. The purpose of its use in the field of dentistry is to relieve the patient from the necessity of using removable dental prostheses in general.
Maryland Dental Bridge (winged)
The winged bridge application, also called Maryland or adhesive, is used particularly in anterior tooth restorations. It is prepared as a false tooth instead of the missing tooth and attached to the back surfaces of the adjacent teeth.
The posterior parts of the adjacent teeth are slightly roughened with acid and the restoration prepared with composite filling material is bonded to these parts. In this way, bridges can be made without having to cut healthy neighbouring teeth, which are important for dental health.
The retention properties of these bridges are much weaker than the others. For this reason, they are not applied on the back teeth from which the strong chewing force originates. The impressions are sent to the laboratory and the prepared porcelain teeth are shaped in the same colour as the neighbouring teeth.
Implant-Supported Bridge:
This is the method used when there is no natural tooth that can serve as support for the tooth that will serve as a bridge in the jaw. With this method, the implants to be placed in the jawbone at both ends of the missing tooth area are connected to each other by a bridge. This application allows a large number of dental deficiencies to be eliminated by using far fewer implants instead of placing an implant for each missing tooth.
How to Place a Fixed Porcelain Bridge?
Another name for the application known as the traditional dental bridge is the fixed porcelain bridge. There are several steps in placing a fixed porcelain bridge.
- The two natural teeth on which the bridge tooth will be fixed are prepared.
- The impression of the gum, dental cavity and teeth is prepared and sent to the laboratory.
- The temporary bridge is placed until the permanent bridge arrives.
- When the preparation of the permanent bridge is complete, the temporary bridge is removed and the dental bridge is permanently placed.
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