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A bridge is made up of two crowns for the teeth on either side of the gap these two anchoring teeth are called abutment teeth and a false tooth/teeth in between. These false teeth are called pontics and can be made from gold, alloys, porcelain or a combination of these materials. Dental bridges are supported by natural teeth or implants.
Bridges:
Traditional bridges involve creating a crown for the tooth or implant on either side of the missing tooth, with a pontic in between. Traditional bridges are the most common type of bridge and are made of either porcelain fused to metal or ceramics. Cantilever bridges are used when there are adjacent teeth on only one side of the missing tooth or teeth. Maryland bonded bridges (also called a resin-bonded bridge or a Maryland bridge) are made of plastic teeth and gums supported by a metal framework. Metal wings on each side of the bridge are bonded to your existing teeth.
The cost of dental bridges varies depending on the type of bridge selected and the area of the country in which the procedure is performed. Dental insurance will typically pay a percentage of the fee depending on the individual dental plan.
In dentistry, crown and bridge (Restorative Dentistry) refers to the restoration of natural teeth that have been damaged, decayed or lost. Once your dentist has examined your teeth and has evaluated your dental and medical history, he/she will be ready to provide a diagnosis, and treatment options. A crown may be constructed to restore an individual damaged tooth back to it's original form and function, while a bridge may be utilized to replace one or more teeth. These restorations are cemented onto the teeth and are referred to as "fixed" dentistry as opposed to a restoration of missing teeth with a removable appliance or partial denture..
A crown is fabricated using an indirect procedure. The tooth is modified and prepared by using special insturments and a copy of the tooth preparation is made is made by taking an impression The crown is then "permanently" cemented onto your tooth preparation. A fixed bridge refers to a prosthesis that will span the area of a missing tooth, known as a pontic. The procedure involves a local anesthetic and the preparation of two or more abutment teeth. Once this has been accomplished, an impression is made and sent to the dental laboratory for fabrication of your new tooth. This procedure will take five to ten days and will encompass two to four appointments. (A crown procedure takes two to three office visits.) The following is a brief description of how a crown will be made:
1. Upon arriving to the laboratory, your impression is cleaned (sterilized). 2. Powdered stone is mixed with water and poured into your impression, which once set hardens into a stone cast of your
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upper/lower teeth. The casts are connected on an apparatus called an articulator that mimics your jaw motion. Using a bunsen burner, the dental technician melts wax and applies it to the prepped tooth stump. This process is called fabricating a coping or framework (if a bridge) which supports the tooth colored material called porcelain. The wax coping is invested in high heat stone, burned out in an oven and cast into metal. This is a similar procedure that a jeweler might use when making a ring. After the metal has been cast, the technician will use a variety of high and slow speed drills to contour the metal. The metal is then ready to be prepared to receive porcelain. Since porcelain is very clear, the silver gray colored metal needs to be masked out. This procedure is referred to as opaquing, or masking out the metal. Porcelain powder is mixed with water and applied by brush to the opaqued metal understucture. By using the casts that have been joined, the dental technician will be able to reproduce a lifelike copy of the original tooth. The porcelain build-up is fired in a ceramic oven at 1800 degrees. Using various diamond and carbide drills, the final contours are established. The porcelain-fused-to-metal restoration is then colored to the patients specific shade and glazed to render an enamel-like finish.
After the final fabrication phases have been completed, the finished crown is returned to your dentist to be checked for correct fit. Once all final adjustments have been made, your restoration is permanently cemented.
What is a dental bridge? A dental bridge is a false tooth, known as a pontic, which is fused between two porcelain crowns to fill in the area left by a missing tooth. The two crowns holding
it in place that are attached onto your teeth on each side of the false tooth. This is known as a fixed bridge. This procedure is used to replace one or more missing teeth. Fixed bridges cannot be taken out of your mouth as you might do with removable partial dentures. In areas of your mouth that are under less stress, such as your front teeth, a cantilever bridge may be used. Cantilever bridges are used when there are teeth on only one side of the open space. Bridges can reduce your risk of gum disease, help correct some bite issues and even improve your speech. Bridges require your commitment to serious oral hygiene, but will last as many ten years or more.
be attached via either a wire or a plastic piece that fits in the roof of your mouth. Flippers are meant to be a temporary solution while awaiting the permanent bridge. On your second appointment, the temporary bridge will be removed. Your new permanent bridge will be fitted and checked and adjusted for any bite discrepan
Not all of your teeth are the same natural color. Usually your eye teeth tend to be darker than the others, your front teeth are typically the whitest, and molars tend to be a shade between the two. The goal for everyone is to achieve their individual optimum whiteness while still looking natural. Most dentists will show you a shade chart (like the above mentioned Vita Shade Guide) for you to pick from. Keep in mind, with a good cosmetic dentist this is merely a starting point. Other considerations when determining the color of dental bridges for each patient are your complexion, hair color, the color of your natural teeth and even your eye color.
A dental bridge, otherwise known as a fixed partial denture, is a prosthesis used to replace missing teeth and is not removable by the patient. A prosthesis that is removable by the patient is called a removable partial denture. A dental bridge is fabricated by reducing the teeth on either side of the missing tooth or teeth by a preparation pattern determined by the location of the teeth and by the material from which the bridge is fabricated. In other words the abutment teeth are reduced in size to accommodate the material to be used to restore the size and shape of the original teeth in a correct alignment and contact with the opposing teeth. The dimensions of the bridge are defined by Ante's Law: "The root surface area of the abutment teeth has to equal or surpass that of the teeth being replaced with pontics" [1].
The materials used for the bridge include gold, porcelain fused to metal, or in the correct situation porcelain alone. The amount and type of reduction done to the abutment teeth varies slightly with the different materials used. The recipient of such a bridge must be careful to clean well under this prosthesis. When restoring an edentulous space with a fixed partial denture that will crown the teeth adjacent to the space and bridge the gap with a pontic, or "dummy tooth", the restoration is referred to as a bridge. Besides all of the preceding information that concerns single-unit crowns, bridges possess a few additional considerations when it comes to case selection and treatment planning, tooth preparation and restoration fabrication.
Contents
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1 Case selection and treatment planning 2 Tooth preparation 3 Restoration fabrication 4 See also 5 References
A semi-precision attachment between teeth #3 and #4, with the female on #4. Note the lingual buttons extending, in the photo, upward on #2 (on the left) and downward on #4. These are used to grasp the crowns with a hemostat and make them easier to handle. They can also be used to aid in removal of the crown in case there is an excessive amount of retention during the try-in. They are cut off prior to final cementation.
The proximal surfaces of the pre-solder index abutment and pontic, showing labprocessed grooves for added retention of the GC pattern resin.
The abument and pontic joined with GC pattern resin in a solder index and reinforced with an old bur (lying horizontally across the occlusal surface of the copings).
[edit] References
1. ^ Shillingburg, Herbert T. Shillingburg. Fundamentals of Fixed Prosthodontics, 3rd Edition. Quintessence, 1997. 7.5
A. According to Marshall Joseph Becker in "The Valsiarosa Gold Dental Appliance," from ETRUSCAN
STUDIES: JOURNAL OF THE ETRUSCAN FOUNDATION. VOLUME 6, 1999, the first use of dental appliances or bridges comes from the Etruscans, whose masterful goldworkers made gold dental bridges for women so they could show off their wealth. Becker says the Etruscans were the first to use dental bridges and retention bands over 2600 years ago. Some Etruscan women would have their incisors removed (a process called "tooth ablation" or evulsion) so they could be fitted with the gold prosthetics