Losing your teeth alters your smile’s appearance and could lead to negative impacts on your oral health and bite function. But our team can address what has been lost with a dental bridge. In today’s blog, your team at Allen and Neumann Family Dentistry in Pella, IA, talks about our custom dental bridge.
The Loss of Your Natural Teeth
First, let’s look at how we lose natural teeth and how this impacts our daily life. Teeth could be lost due to an injury to the face or jaw, a severe cavity or infection, or they could be missing due to periodontitis, the advanced stage of gum disease. When you lose a tooth or as many as three in a row, this can be addressed with a prosthetic. Otherwise, you risk misalignment forming that further impacts your health and appearance in negative ways, as well as the onset of TMJ disorder and bruxism (teeth grinding). You could even have issues with your favorite dishes or speaking clearly! But again, we can help with a custom dental bridge.
Help with a Dental Bridge
A dental bridge is a prosthetic that contains new teeth, known as pontics, with crowns attached to each end. Made from ceramic, this can be color-matched to blend with your smile, and will be able to handle daily bite forces with ease. The prosthetic can last for 10 to 15 years on average before replacement is needed, and is fixed in place. You don’t have to remove it for cleaning, but you do have to brush and floss it, and clean the space between the top of the gums and the bottom of the prosthetic!
Creating and Placing Your Dental Prosthetic
To create one, we will numb the abutment teeth, the natural ones on each side of the gap, and then gently remove structure from them. Next, our team will gather detailed digital images of these prepared teeth and the gap, using these to create impressions of the area. In a dental lab, we use the impressions to design and craft your new teeth. The new teeth and crowns will then be connected to your bite, the crowns attached to the abutment teeth to secure your new ones firmly in place.
If you have any questions about how we address missing teeth with a custom and lifelike dental bridge, or if you are ready to start your journey to a full smile, then contact our team right away to learn more!
Schedule a Restorative Appointment with Allen & Neumann
Our team wants to help replace your lost teeth with a custom and long-lasting dental prosthetic. To schedule an appointment for a custom dental prosthetic, call Allen and Neumann Family Dentistry in Pella, IA, at 641-628-1121 today.