Dental Bridges in Mooresville & Troutman, NC

Are you missing one or more teeth, creating a big gap in your smile? Lost teeth can impact the appearance and function of your smile, as well as affect your oral health. One restoration and cosmetic dentistry option for replacing lost teeth is a dental bridge. This option fills the gaps in your smile and offers support for your existing teeth with fixed, permanent artificial teeth. Curtis Family Dentistry can design and install a dental bridge to give you a complete smile makeover at our office in Mooresville. A dental bridge uses teeth next to a lost tooth to support a dental prosthetic. Before dental implants, this was the best fixed option to replace a missing tooth without removable dentures. Dental bridges are still an excellent option for replacing singular teeth, especially for those who are not good candidates for dental implants. Bridges are comfortable, look natural and offer a functional replacement for teeth that have been lost to disease, trauma or other dental problems.

Close the Gaps in Your Smile

Dental bridges are created with hardware that is attached to the teeth on either side of a missing tooth or teeth. To attach the hardware, dental crowns are fitted for the existing teeth and an artificial tooth called a pontic is made to replace the missing tooth. The new crowns are fitted, and the hardware is attached behind the teeth to secure the pontic in place. The result is a natural-appearing smile with a new functional tooth to close the gaps in your smile. Missing teeth can lead to further dental issues. Your surrounding teeth can begin to shift, creating crooked teeth that are unpleasant and hard to clean. Keep your smile healthy and beautiful by replacing missing teeth with a dental bridge from Curtis Family Dentistry. Contact our office today to schedule your appointment, and learn more about receiving a dental bridge to give you back your complete smile.

Who is a good candidate for dental bridges?

Dental bridges can be an excellent tooth-replacement alternative for patients who are not candidates for dental implants. If a patient’s jawbone does not have enough healthy tissue to support an implant, for example, a bridge may be suggested instead. A patient who wants a dental bridge should also have healthy abutment teeth that the bridge can be placed over to support it.

What can I eat after getting a dental bridge?

Once you leave your appointment, you will want to wait until the numbness from the local anesthetic completely wears off before you eat anything to avoid biting your tongue. Then, we recommend sticking with soft foods for a little while and chewing with the other side of your mouth as much as possible. Once your dental bridge has settled and is securely in place, there are no food restrictions that you have to worry about, and you can return to your normal diet.

Are dental bridges better than dental crowns?

Dental bridges are not objectively better or worse than dental crowns, they are just used for different reasons. Dental crowns are often utilized if a single tooth needs to be protected or repaired. Dental bridges can be used to support one tooth as well, but they can also be used to restore several teeth in a row. When it comes to replacing missing teeth, dental bridges are a common treatment method, while dental crowns cannot be used to replace missing teeth unless they are attached to an implant.