If you lose a tooth, then you don’t have to live with a gap in your smile, and run the risk of serious complications. Instead, you can see our team! For minor tooth loss, we can offer a custom prosthetic. In today’s blog, your Ankeny, IA, dentist talks about placing our dental bridges.
The Causes and Risks of Missing Teeth
How does a tooth become lost and how will this impact your overall oral health and smile stability? We could lose a tooth to an injury, or possibly due to an untreated cavity or infection. In most cases, the periodontitis stage of gum disease could be responsible for a missing tooth or possibly several. When this happens, this gap could allow nearby teeth to drift and create misalignment. You could be more susceptible to issues like TMJ disorder and bruxism (chronic teeth grinding), and may even have issues eating or speaking clearly. To keep your smile even and intact, we can fill the gap with a custom dental bridge!
Helping with Custom Bridges
The dental bridge is a prosthetic that looks natural and fills the gap in your smile. To begin the process, our team will numb the teeth on each side of the gap in your smile. These are referred to as abutment teeth. Once we do, we will remove structure from them and take detailed images of the prepared teeth and the empty space. With these images and measurements, we can design and craft your bridge.
The prosthetic will contain new teeth with crowns on each side, which allows us to address between one and three missing teeth in a row. Made from ceramic, this will be made to be shaded for a natural appearance. We can also ensure they handle daily bite forces with ease.
Securing Your New Teeth
For a traditional bridge, we will attach the crowns to the prepared abutment teeth, securing your new ones in place for years to come. For a longer-lasting option, we could also insert one to two dental implants into the smile and attach the crown portions to them, which supports your new teeth for far longer, and prevents the need for abutment teeth to lose structure.
If you have any questions about addressing tooth loss with a traditional or implant-supported prosthetic, or if you want to start the process now and greet the holidays with a full smile, let us know. You can use your remaining 2025 dental insurance benefits and health savings account funds before they expire at the end of the year!
Dental Impressions Talks About Placing a Dental Prosthetic
We want to handle missing teeth with a custom and lifelike dental prosthetic. To schedule an appointment for replacing missing teeth, then call Dental Impressions in Ankeny, IA today at (515) 965-0230.
