A Bridge For The Gap In Your Smile

You shouldn’t overlook even a single missing tooth. Instead, you should let your Newhall, CA, dentist know as soon as possible. The sooner we treat your tooth loss, the sooner we help you avoid serious complications for your smile’s beauty and function. In today’s blog, we’re going to look at how we create and place a custom-made dental bridge.

The Risks of Untreated Tooth Loss

Did you know that tooth loss impacts far more than your smile’s beauty? Missing teeth could mean the surrounding teeth drift from position, leading to poor alignment. Missing teeth also place pressure on the jaw joints, which leads to a higher risk of TMJ disorder and bruxism (chronic teeth grinding). A gap in your smile could impact your ability to eat or even speak clearly too, or could cause embarrassment in social situations. To avoid these complications, talk to our team about replacement options right away.

Creating a Dental Bridge

To create a dental bridge, we first start with an exam to assess the severity of your tooth loss and make sure this is the right choice for your smile. We then remove structure from the teeth on either side of the gap, and take detailed impressions and images. Next, we use the impressions and images to design and craft the prosthetic. The bridge will consist of your new teeth, known as pontics, with crowns attached to each end. We attach the crowns to the abutment teeth, the ones we removed structure from, securing them and addressing between one and three missing teeth in a row.

Support with Dental Implants

While we often use abutment teeth to secure them, we can also use dental implants. We insert the implants into the jawbone, where they act as new roots. We don’t need to remove structure from healthy teeth, as we attach the crowns to the implants instead. These last longer than traditional bridges, offering tooth replacement for decades, possibly even a lifetime, and dental implants help prevent the loss of jawbone mass and density that follows tooth loss, preserving your jawbone and facial structure. If you have any questions about how we create and place a lifelike dental prosthetic, or if you would like to learn more about avoiding tooth loss altogether, then contact out team today. Let’s protect the health and stability of your smile, preserving it for years to come!

Do You Have Questions About Replacing Missing Teeth?

Don’t let the loss of your natural teeth cause problems for the health and function of your smile. To learn more about addressing one or more missing teeth with a lifelike dental prosthetic, then please schedule a consultation by calling Newhall Dental Arts in Newhall, CA, today at (661) 259-7760.