Dental Implant-Supported Bridges

    PHILADELPHIA, PA, April 18, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dental implants can be used in combination with a dental bridge. Traditionally, a dental implant is used with a tooth crown to replace a single missing tooth. For various reasons, a dental implant and single crown may not be the most effective treatment, and your dentist or oral surgeon may recommend using an implant-supported dental bridge.

How Dental Implants are used with Bridges

If you are missing multiple teeth, you may have the option of a dental implant-supported bridge to replace the missing teeth.

Dental implants will be surgically placed in the bone beneath your gums, in locations chosen by your oral surgeon. The dental implants are given several months to heal and bond with the bone in which they are placed.

After your tissues have healed around the implants, your dental bridge can be attached to the dental implants. A bridge consists of tooth crowns fused together. Some of the tooth crowns fit over your natural teeth, and some will attach to the dental implants placed beneath your gums.

Why Use an Implant-Supported Dental Bridge?

When used to replace a single missing tooth, a dental implant is usually attached to a tooth crown, thereby providing replacement of the entire missing tooth structure from the root up. When you are missing multiple teeth, several dental implants with crowns could be used for each tooth, or your dentist can attach a dental bridge to a few dental implants.

If the sites of your missing teeth are in areas where a great amount of pressure is exerted, your dentist may recommend an implant-supported bridge. If individual dental implants and crowns were used in these areas, the excessive force exerted by biting, chewing or teeth grinding would greatly increase the risk of dental implant failure. When a dental bridge is used in these areas, the force of chewing is spread out across the bridge.

Of course, dental bridges can be used without dental implants, in which case they are supported by your gums and the teeth they are attached to; however, there are benefits to using dental implants, mainly that the dental bridge will be more secure and stable. Also, the health of the bone beneath your gums is promoted by the presence of dental implants, whereas the absence of tooth roots can lead to bone deterioration.

To learn more about dental implants, please visit the website of Ardmore, Pennsylvania implant dentist Lindsey Marshall, DMD at www.lindseymarshall.com.

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