Dental Bridges

Did you know that by the time you are 45, you stand a really good chance of losing a tooth? We didn’t just make up that statistic. Research from the American Dental Association says that by 69% of all Americans over the age of 45 have lost one or more teeth. While many adults are missing their wisdom teeth, we’re not talking about those. Instead, we are talking about teeth that are lost because of tooth decay, gum disease, or accidents. If you are one of those adults that has lost one or more teeth, you need to know there are ways we can give you the look and feel of your natural teeth back. One way we can do that is through a dental bridge. Bridges are a way you can have a full set of teeth again. If you don’t know what bridges are, let BayView Dental give you more information about bridges.

What Are Bridges?

Bridges are one of the tools in our arsenal. They help people who have lost teeth. If you have lost one tooth or several teeth, you know how hard it is to function with missing teeth. You might have had trouble eating or speaking because of lost teeth. Several different kinds of bridges can be used to replace missing teeth. For example, we can use a traditional bridge to replace missing teeth. Traditional bridges can be used when someone loses teeth on one side of their jaw. We can also use it to replace missing teeth on opposite sides of the jaw that are in the same place. Traditional bridges use two crowns on either side of the missing teeth and cement prosthetic teeth on a base onto the is. We use this type of bridge when you have lost some of your back teeth.

We can also use other types of bridges, depending on what teeth you are missing. For example, if you are missing your front teeth, we can use a cantilever bridge to replace those teeth. Instead of cementing the teeth between two crowns, a cantilever bridge has brackets at one end that are cemented to a tooth. Because you don’t use your front teeth to chew, this bridge is not made the same way as a traditional bridge. We can also cement a bridge to a real tooth or even an implant.

Why Bridges?

Bridges may seem like a crazy solution to lost teeth, but they do work. They perform a really important function. No matter how you lost your tooth, bridges protect your mouth from further damage. If you don’t replace your lost teeth, your other teeth might shift to fill the holes in your mouth left when you lost your tooth. In the long run, this could lead to problems with your jaw. You might not be able to chew the same way it did before. You could also lose bone mass in your jaw, which could lead to changes in your face over time. Bridges help you not only get the look and function of real teeth, but they also save your teeth from more damage. Do you need a bridge? Why not give BayView Dental a call at one of our 7 convenient locations now!