Crown, Bridge & Denture
What is crown & bridge treatment?
Crown and bridge treatment is a long-term method of replacing missing teeth. A crown is placed over an individual tooth, (somewhat like a thimble over your finger) where there is no longer sufficient tooth structure left to place a filling.
A bridge spans a space where one or more teeth have been lost in the dental arch. The teeth on either end of the span are crowned, and are referred to as abutments. The false teeth in a bridge that join the abutments are referred to as pontics.
Crowns and bridges are most often made from superior materials such as precious metals (gold), semi-precious metals, porcelain, or a combination of metal fused to porcelain. Both esthetics (appearance) and function are considered when selecting the material most suitable for you.
Dentures
Dentures are prosthetic devices constructed to replace missing teeth, and which are supported by surrounding soft and hard tissues of theoral cavity. Conventional dentures are removable, however there are many different denture designs, some which rely on bonding or clasping onto teeth or dental implants. There are two main categories of dentures, depending on whether they are used to replace missing teeth on the mandibular arch or the maxillary arch.
Advantages
Dentures can help patients in a number of ways:
- Mastication - chewing ability is improved by replacing edentulous areas with denture teeth.
- Aesthetics - the presence of teeth provide a natural facial appearance, and wearing a denture to replace missing teeth provides support for the lips and cheeks and corrects the collapsed appearance that occurs after losing teeth.
- Phonetics - by replacing missing teeth, especially the anterior, patients are better able to speak by improving pronunciation of those words containing sibilants or fricatives.
- Self esteem - Patients feel better about themselves.