Bridging the Gap

bridgeTooth loss can be a disheartening and even a debilitating condition, impairing your ability to eat and speak normally as well as affecting the beauty of your smile. The damage caused by a missing tooth is ongoing, as teeth surrounding the gap drift into the space, sometimes tilting and leaning. If not treated, a gap in your smile can begin to affect your entire mouth. To restore your smile and prevent further deterioration, Dental Partners of Boston offers dental bridges.

A dental bridge is a treatment in cosmetic dentistry that replaces one or more missing teeth with a prosthetic. With a dental bridge, the gap in your mouth becomes invisible, and you can once more talk, eat, and smile as you did before. Filling the empty space prevents nearby teeth from drifting and preserves the integrity of your bite. The sooner a bridge can be installed, the better for your remaining teeth.

Removable partial dentures

One solution for filling a gap in your teeth is a removable partial denture. The removable denture fills all the cosmetic and functional roles of your missing teeth. Although not as stable as a fixed bridge, this is a functional solution which can be installed without altering any of the adjacent structures in your mouth.

Tooth-supported fixed bridges

A fixed bridge is permanently installed in your mouth and provides greater stability than a removable partial denture. A tooth-supported fixed bridge relies on porcelain crowns which are fitted over the teeth on either side of the gap to support the false teeth in the middle. It is also possible to make a bridge that fastens to only one side of the gap, although this is not recommended.

Implant-supported bridges

For the greatest stability and comfort, we recommend implant-supported bridges. Dental implants are artificial structures implanted in your jawbone, where the tooth roots were originally. A single implant or a pair of implants can support a bridge replacing multiple teeth. Aside from keeping your teeth from drifting, dental implants help halt the deterioration of bone and gum tissue around the site of the tooth loss, preserving the natural, healthy structures of your mouth. Although dental implants are not possible for everyone, they are an excellent option for replacing one or more missing teeth.

Call us or request an appointment online to learn more about bridges.

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