Minor tooth loss could still lead to serious trouble with the health and function of your smile, not to mention your overall smile beauty too! Fortunately, our team can help replace your missing teeth with a natural-looking dental bridge. In today’s blog, your El Paso, TX, dentist talks about dental bridges.
The Causes and Possible Dangers of Tooth Loss
Even minor tooth loss, including only one lost tooth, could cause trouble for your smile. For example, the missing tooth could be enough to cause surrounding teeth to drift, leading to misalignment. This could impact how you eat and speak, and lead to embarrassment in social situations. The jawbone could also lose mass and density as the body stops sending calcium and phosphates to it, so further tooth loss is also a risk. But by filling the gap with a dental bridge, you can prevent these complications and enjoy a complete smile again!
The Dental Bridge
A dental bridge can address between one and three teeth in a row on average, and is designed to not only fill these gaps, but ensure a properly balanced bite and a lifelike appearance. To begin, our team will numb the teeth on each side of the gap and then remove structure from them. These are the abutment teeth, and we will take detailed images and impressions of them, as well as the gap. In a dental lab setting, we then design and fabricate the finished product from strong and lifelike materials like ceramic, which we can then shade to blend with your tooth. The prosthetic contains new teeth and a crown on one or both ends. The crowns are then added to the abutment teeth to secure your new prosthetic for 10 to 15 years on average.
Supporting Them With Implant Dentistry
We could also secure them with dental implants. With this option, we don’t need to remove structure from abutment teeth. Instead, we insert the post into the jawbone, usually one to two. We then attach the crown portions of your prosthetic directly to them. The posts act as new roots, so the body resumes the flow of calcium and phosphorus, so the jawbone never loses mass and density, and never changes shape. As a result, your new prosthetic could last for decades to come!
If you have any questions about our dental bridges, then contact our team today to learn more. We want to offer a full smile again!
TALK TO SUNNY SMILES IN EL PASO, TX, ABOUT TOOTH REPLACEMENT OPTIONS
You don’t have to live with these minor gaps in your smile. If you’re ready to schedule a visit and correct the gaps in your smile, then contact our Sunny Smiles location on N Zaragoza Rd in El Paso, TX at 915-849-9000.