Dental Bridges

At the office of Attune Dentistry, we provide skilled and experienced care to help every patient enjoy the benefits of optimal oral health and a beautiful smile. For individuals who are missing teeth due to extensive decay, periodontal disease, trauma, the result of an illness, or side effect of medical treatment, we offer a comprehensive range of services to rebuild complete, attractive, and functional smiles.

How missing teeth impact the health and function of your smile

Missing teeth do more than cause embarrassing gaps in your smile. In the absence of a replacement, they can affect the health and function of your smile in the following ways:

• Impair your ability to smile, speak, and chew with confidence and ease.
• Allow the adjacent teeth to ever so slowly drift into the unoccupied spaces, thereby changing the alignment of your smile and bite.
• Cause teeth in the opposing arch that no longer occlude with a counterpart to extrude and further compromise your bite.
• Promote cavities and gum disease as the teeth shift out of place and impact the distribution of biting and chewing forces, and become more difficult to keep clean.

Rebuilding a complete smile

Although the consequences of missing teeth can compromise your dental health and overall well-being, modern dentistry offers effective solutions for reestablishing a complete, attractive, and well-functioning smile. Today, thanks to advances in dental materials, technology, and treatment methods, it's easier than ever before to replace missing teeth and achieve aesthetically pleasing and long-lasting results.

Of course, each smile is different, and every patient has unique needs and individual expectations of care. Helping a patient rebuild a complete and beautiful smile may involve partial or full dentures, fixed dental bridges, or dental implants. As skilled and experienced providers of care, the office of Attune Dentistry offers expert guidance on choosing the most suitable treatment option. Whatever type of tooth replacement method you select, you can feel confident that your smile will look good and feel great!

About dental bridges

A dental bridge offers a highly effective, stable, and fixed solution for replacing missing teeth. Unlike removable partial dentures that clasp on to the remaining teeth, a dental bridge relies on the support of crowns attached to teeth adjacent to the edentulous area (space without teeth) or strategically placed dental implants. In addition to restoring the look, feel, and function of a natural smile, they also prevent the teeth from shifting, thereby protecting the alignment of a patient's bite.

Far from a new idea, the history of replacing teeth with a fixed dental bridge goes back thousands of years. Today, dental bridges are fabricated from the highest quality of dental materials, including porcelain, porcelain fused to metal, and engineered ceramic products like zirconia. Now, in addition to being stronger and more durable than ever before, they appear more attractive and naturally beautiful.

Common types

Depending on the number of missing teeth, the health of the remaining dentition, and other factors, a dental bridge can replace a single missing tooth or multiple ones. The most commonly recommended types are the traditional fixed bridge and the implant-supported bridge.

Traditional fixed bridge: A traditional fixed bridge typically requires the preparation and crowning of teeth on either side of the edentulous space. These crowned teeth function to support the artificial ones, known as "pontics," that span the gap. In much the same way a bridge that extends over a body of water relies on the support of strong, sturdy pillars at each end, a dental bridge garners strength and stability from the terminal crowned teeth fused to a single or multiple pontics.

Implant-Supported Bridges: As the most advanced method for the replacement of missing teeth, dental implants come the closest to replicating the look, feel, and function of a natural smile. With an implant-supported bridge, there's no need to prepare, crown, or involve any adjacent natural teeth. Because dental implants behave in much the same way as the roots of natural teeth, they provide all the support a bridge requires. Implant-supported bridges also help prevent the bone shrinkage that naturally occurs when teeth have been lost, helping maintain normal facial contours.

What to expect when getting a traditional bridge

Fixed bridges are typically fabricated over the course of multiple visits. The process involves the preparation of the supporting teeth, impression taking, the placement of a temporary bridge, and the try-in and cementation of the permanent restoration. Before cementing your new bridge, the shade, contours, fit, and occlusion are checked to ensure a perfect result.

What to expect when getting an implant-supported bridge

Surgery to place the dental implants is typically considered a minor surgical procedure performed on an outpatient basis. To facilitate the precise placement of dental implants, we'll take several detailed diagnostic records, including 3D images of your jaws. Once the dental implants are placed, it can take a few months for them to fully integrate with the surrounding bone before the permanent bridge is placed.

At the office of Attune Dentistry, our mission is to help every patient enjoy good oral health and the benefits of a beautiful smile. We provide skilled, experienced care and offer the most advanced dental implant-based solutions to transform incomplete smiles into ones that look great, function well, and inspire confidence.