Regain your complete smile with dental bridges that replace teeth and span the gaps
Everyone, regardless of age and financial circumstances, deserves to have a healthy smile. Depending on the condition of your teeth and gums, your mouth can either help or hinder your self-confidence, nutrition, productivity, mood, sleep, and on and on and on … One of the biggest hits that our oral health and smiles can take is tooth loss. But gaps in your smile due to missing teeth do not have to be in your future.
Los Alamitos Dental Care partners with patients from across our corner of Orange County, California, to protect the health, function, and beauty of their teeth. Bridges and other forms of tooth replacement are also discussed promptly. If we cannot preserve a tooth with techniques such as root canal therapy, one of our six dentists can restore the natural chewing function and the appearance of your smile. Today’s tooth replacement also does a great job of replicating the aesthetics and durability of the natural tooth structure. We can rebuild teeth with dental materials that are indistinguishable from healthy teeth.
Minding the gap – between your teeth!
Dental bridges are generally appropriate for patients who have lost one tooth or some teeth. They may also be the right choice for individuals holding on to aching teeth. Not all severely decayed or deeply infected teeth are good candidates for endodontic procedures, such as root canal treatment. In these cases, dental extraction or the removal of the affected tooth may be the only option to resolve pain and prevent further oral and systemic complications associated with infected teeth.
If a dental bridge is best for you, we must first “prepare” the neighboring teeth on either side of your gap. Preparation involves reducing the tooth and reshaping it. We need to take this step, because the adjacent teeth must be crowned. All dental crowns require the removal of some natural tooth structure. Then, the crowns fit securely and properly over the teeth.
After these neighbors have been prepared, we design the dental crown. We gather lots of information about your mouth that can be used to fabricate the bridge. For patients who need to replace one tooth, a single pontic (replacement tooth) is sandwiched between the two dental crowns. The crowns and pontic are then fused together. Once the bridge is made, patients return to our office in Los Alamitos, California, so that the bridge can be fixed in place. Once the crowns are bonded to the abutment teeth, the pontic fills in the gap and replaces the lost tooth. The adjacent crowned teeth anchor or hold the pontic in place.
Dental bridges have been around for a long time as a type of tooth replacement. They are a “fixed” option. They can last for many years as long as you care for the bridge properly. We can discuss products and techniques to clean underneath the bridge effectively. This area can trap bacteria, food particles, and plaque. These substances can threaten the structure and health of the dental bridge, including the natural crowned teeth.
Start the process today! Call (562) 539-0011 to schedule your appointment at Los Alamitos Dental Care. During your consultation, one of our dentists may also discuss “modern” bridges. These bridges are supported by dental implants positioned and embedded in the jawbone. They present a conservative and long-lasting alternative to conventional bridges.
