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Dental Bridge

A dental bridge is basically a row of crowns. They are meant to replace the visible portion of more than one missing teeth, the part above the alveolar tissue of the gums.
Bridges can be made of different sorts of crowns, and the main difference between them is the internal structure. All of our crowns have an outer shell made out of porcelain that is the same color as your surrounding teeth.

The internal structure of our standard dental crowns are made out of a high quality surgical steel alloy fused to the above mentioned tooth-colored porcelain shell. This type of crown can perfectly replicate living teeth as long as they do not have a strong light shone on them, because the internal structure can become visible in this manner. That is why more and more patients are turning to a mineral known as zirconium oxide for their dental crown internal structures. Zirconium oxide looks like the inside of teeth, and is perfectly capable of doing the same things that a surgical steel alloy could do in terms of longevity and loading capabilities. The difference is that when light shines on zirconium it plays with the light in the same way that living teeth do, making crowns made out of this material practically indistinguishable from normal, healthy teeth. At our London dental practice, we are proud to say that we make bridges out of both types of crowns, and have been doing so for quite some time, and we have the experience and knowledge needed to make a bridge to take care of any sort of dental problem that can be treated with a bridge.

There is more than one way to make a bridge, and many different types of bridges exist. The most common ones are non removable, adhered to teeth that have been prepared and chiseled down to house them. Some bridges however can be removed, these are sometimes also known as a partial denture. The crowns in this case are usually housed on some sort of artificial gum, usually made out of surgical resin.

We also make what is called a Maryland bridge, or flying bridge. It is called ‘flying’ because the bridges have little wings on the ends of them that allow them to hook into the teeth that are next to the bridge, thus stabilizing them. These can be both fixed or removable.

It is also possible to house a bridge on dental implants. A dental implant can house more than one crown, so the number of teeth replaced does not necessarily equal the number of implants that you will have to get. It is also possible to house bridges on implants with the aid of a ball attachment and a click bar, this is for when a substantial amount of teeth need to be replaced. Usually these sorts of bridges are non-removable.

Acquiring a bridge from our London dental practice usually requires a number of visits. During the first visit, the type of bridge needs to be specified, and a consensus needs to be reached with your dentist about your budget and how many teeth you need replaced. After that, your teeth will be shaped to house the bridge. Once this is done, an impression of your teeth will be made, which will be sent to our dental technicians. They will make the bridge, which can take quite some time, depending on how many crowns are on the bridge. During this time you will be fitted with a temporary bridge or a partial denture. Once the technical work is finished, the bridge will be inserted.