We will fit you with a temporary bridge while we wait for the lab to craft your permanent bridge. This will protect the abutments and the exposed gum areas and look more appealing than having a missing tooth. When the permanent bridge has been created, you will have a follow up visit to set the bridge. It will be placed on the abutments and the dentist will then use an adhesive to make sure that the bridge is set.

The bridge may take a little while to get used to, but after a few days it should feel like you have your own teeth back again. You should eat soft foods for the first few days after having your bridge placed. After the initial phase, you will be able to eat whatever you want with no issues.

If you are missing a tooth you should strongly consider having it replaced. Besides the aesthetic disadvantage of missing a tooth, it could also cause structural changes to your mouth and jaw, as well as making it difficult to eat or speak properly. Set up an appointment today to restore your smile.

There are different type of bridges:

• Traditional bridges involve creating a crown for the tooth or implant on either side of the missing tooth, with a pontic in between. Traditional bridges are the most common type of bridge and are made of either porcelain fused to metal or ceramics.

Special bonded bridges: (healthy adjacent teeth are required)

• One is the Maryland Bridge- Using this technique, adjacent teeth can have minor reduction of tooth structure and this type of bridge can be bonded to the teeth. I have a Maryland bridge myself because I did not want the adjacent perfect teeth cut down. All Maryland Bridges will eventually fail (because of loss of the bond between the metal and the bonding cement), and I was willing to accept that risk.
• A second type of bridge is a metal free technique by which using a porcelain false tooth (pontic) can be bonded to adjacent teeth utilizing a combination of bonding materials. Under the right circumstances this is an excellent option.
• A Solopontic bridge can be used. This technique utilizing bonded materials, looks great, but is not as strong as other bridges. This would be an excellent bridge to use for a short term need.
• Another option is bonding the crown portion of a patient’s natural tooth to adjacent teeth if the patient has a sound tooth that must be extracted because of bone loss around the root or similar reason. I have utilized this technique for as much as 22 years, and I know that one of the bonded bridges is still in place after 19 years of service.