When you lose a tooth, you don’t need a set of full or partial dentures, but you do need to replace what has been lost to protect your smile. In these cases, we may suggest a dental bridge, which can provide lifelike replacement for one to three missing teeth in a row. In today’s blog, your Ankeny, IA, dentist talks about how we secure our natural-looking dental bridges.
The Causes of Adult Tooth Loss
What happens to make us lose a tooth? In some cases, a tooth could be lost as a result of an untreated cavity or infection, or even due to an injury to the face or jaw. For most adults, tooth loss is linked to periodontitis, the advanced stage of gum disease. As part of your treatment, we will examine your smile to assess the cause of your tooth loss, as we may need to treat underlying issues like gum disease to manage it and protect the rest of your smile. But if you have one missing tooth or as many as three in a row, then we could help with a dental bridge.
The Benefits of a Dental Bridge
The dental bridge can be placed without the need for surgery, and is custom-made from lifelike materials to ensure a natural appearance. The prosthetic is designed to be able to handle daily bite forces and pressures too. Once in place, this will prevent the misalignment that can often occur following tooth loss. Since you improve the balance of your bite, you’re less likely to develop complications like TMJ disorder and bruxism (teeth grinding). The prosthetic can provide up to 15 years of tooth replacement, and is easy to care for, as you brush and floss it like your natural teeth.
Creating and Securing Your Prosthetic
To place a bridge, our team will begin by numbing the abutment teeth, the ones on each side of the gap, so we can remove structures from them. Our team takes detailed images and measurements of these prepped teeth and the gap with digital technology, using this in a lab setting to design and craft your prosthetic. The ceramic prosthetic will contain new teeth with crowns on each end, and when the prosthetic is ready, we will attach the crown portions to the abutment teeth to secure your new teeth in place. If you have any questions about how we replace missing teeth with a dental bridge, then contact our team today.
Address Your Missing Teeth With Dental Impressions
Our team is ready to offer a durable, lifelike, and long-lasting solution to your minor tooth loss. To find out more about how we replace missing teeth, call Dental Impressions in Ankeny, IA today at (515) 965-0230.
