Dental bridges are a crucial tool that can help restore a person’s ability to properly chew food, speak, and smile. There are three types of bridges available.
1. The Traditional Bridge
The traditional bridge is the most popular bridge used by dentists. It is made of ceramics or porcelain fused to metal. They used a dental crown made from one tooth on either side of the missing tooth and connection is made with a fake tooth attached in between them. The traditional bridge lasts an average of 10 years, and may require more teeth to be replaced when coming to an end of their functional life.
2. Cantilever Bridge
A cantilever bridge works best when the patient doesn’t have two teeth on either side of the missing tooth. The bridge is connected to just one other tooth that has been turned into a crown and the fake tooth is attached to the end of it.
3. Maryland Bridge
With the Maryland Bridge, the fake tooth is connected to metal wings that then cemented to the two teeth next to the missing tooth.
4. Alternatives to Dental Bridges
Instead of a dental bridge, you can also have one or more teeth repaired with a dental implant or multiple dental implants. Traditional fixed dental bridges require the infected tooth or teeth to be removed. Once this is completed the teeth on either side of the dental extraction areas are ground down. Once this is completed a bridge of teeth are fused together. This puts stress on the dental bridge abutment teeth. This adds one and a half to two times the stress of chewing and biting on these teeth. That is why the average life span of a traditional dental bridge last 8 to 10 years. Once the dental bridge fails, a single tooth replacement turns into replacing two or more teeth. Having a single dental implant or multiple dental implants allows us to replace missing or failing teeth one time and provide a longer lasting solution those dental bridges.