Whether you have lost a tooth through an accident or if it has been extracted, bridges can effectively and reliably fill the gaps in your smile. Made from all-ceramic materials to enhance your smile with excellent aesthetics, bridges use the teeth on either side of the gap as support for the replacement tooth. At Holmes Dental Care, our CEREC restorations can be made and fitted in a single appointment – book yours today!
With a conventional bridge, usually the teeth on either side of the gap are prepared and crowns are placed as support. These are attached to the artificial tooth (also called a pontic), which bridges the gap and completes your smile.
Adhesive bridges require virtually no drilling of the teeth on either side of the gap to be filled. They can be made with metal or ceramic wings (brackets) glued to hold the false tooth securely in place. They work best when the teeth next to the gap are perfect or have very small fillings in them.
We first make sure that the teeth that will support the bridge are healthy and strong. They are then prepared by removing a layer of enamel to ensure a seamless fit.
We take digital scans and impressions of the prepared teeth. These are either sent to the dental laboratory or used in-house. While your bridge is custom-made in a lab, we provide you with a temporary bridge to protect the exposed teeth. We can also use our in-house CEREC machine to create and fit bespoke restorations in a single appointment.
When ready, we check your bridge, making sure it fits perfectly and making small adjustments if necessary. Your bridge is finally fixed in place with strong dental cement.
You need to clean your bridge every day, to prevent problems such as bad breath and gum disease. You also have to clean under the false tooth every day. Your dentist or hygienist will show you how to use special floss, as a normal toothbrush cannot reach.
A CEREC bridge is made in our practice while you wait, reducing the disruption multiple appointments can cause. The CEREC machine allows us to plan, fabricate and fit your restoration in a single visit, using 3D digital software to create a beautiful and accurate end result.
If bridges are well looked after, and that includes keeping the surrounding teeth healthy so they can continue to provide a solid foundation, they should last for as long as twenty years.
The main alternatives to bridges for replacing missing teeth are partial dentures and dental implants. Bridges are seen as a more secure alternative to partial dentures, as they are fixed into place and will not move or slip. Implants are seen as superior in durability and aesthetics but are more expensive. Bridges can be used in combination with implants to replace more than one missing tooth.
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Dental DesignOur website was last updated in: January 2025
