When you have lost a tooth, or as many as three to four in a row, then you need a prosthetic to avoid major impacts on your smile. With a dental bridge, we can secure a tooth replacement, and with dental implants, we can offer one that lasts decades. In today’s blog, your Prairie Village, KS, dentist talks about supporting bridges with dental implants.
The Causes and Risks of Tooth Loss
Our teeth could be lost for a number of different reasons. For some, this could be due to an untreated cavity or infection, causing the tooth to be lost or require extraction to avoid the spread of infection. For others, injury could be responsible. The most common reason is periodontitis, the advanced stage of gum disease that destroys the tissues connecting your teeth and gums. When we lose teeth, even if the gaps appear minor, this could still complicate how we eat, limit clear speech, and increase the risk of complications like misalignment, TMJ disorder, and even bruxism (teeth grinding). But the most severe complication is the loss of mass and density that follows, causing tooth loss and an aged appearance. But with implant-supported bridges, we can preserve your smile!
The Dental Bridge
A dental bridge is a prosthetic that can address a gap of one to four missing teeth in a row. We craft them based on detailed digital images and measurements we take of your smile. With the traditional one, we would also remove structure from teeth on each side of the gap. The prosthetic itself is made from ceramic, a material that can handle daily bite forces and be shaded to blend with the rest of her smile. The prosthetic contains new teeth with crowns on each end. With a typical option, we would place the crowns on the abutment teeth, the ones we removed structure from. But we can offer an implant alternative!
Support with Dental Implants
With this option, we don’t need to remove structure from healthy teeth, instead we insert one to two dental implant posts into the gap in your smile, and connect the crown portions of the prosthetic to the posts. The posts then stimulate the growth of jawbone structure to prevent the breakdown linked to further tooth loss and weakened smiles. As a result, your prosthetic can last decades to come, possibly a lifetime, instead of just 10 to 15 ears. If you have any questions about how we address tooth loss with our implant bridges, then contact our team today.
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT TREATING TOOTH LOSS
Our team is ready to help you enjoy a full smile by placing a custom dental prosthetic. To find out more about filling the gaps in your smile, you can call Dr. Browne in Prairie Village, KS, at 913-901-8585.
