Dentures and Bridges
Bridges
If you have one or more missing teeth, we can fill the gap with a natural looking dental bridge. Designed to fit in perfectly with your existing teeth, it consists of crowns that permanently cover two or more anchoring (abutment) teeth with an attached false tooth (or teeth) that effectively fills the space.
As well as restoring an incomplete smile, bridges can offer a host of other benefits, including:
- Improving how you eat and speak
- Enhancing facial contours
- Distributing the forces in your bite correctly
- Preventing remaining teeth from moving out of position
Treatment Steps
Step 1 – We prepare the supporting teeth by removing some enamel to make room for the crowns.
Step 2 – We take impressions of your teeth so your bridge can be built to fit.
Step 3 – While waiting for your bridge, we will fit a temporary one to protect those teeth that will eventually accommodate the crowns.
Step 4 – Your brand new bridge is checked and adjusted to make sure it looks and feels great.
Aftercare
Try to maintain your oral hygiene so your natural teeth stay strong and healthy, including those teeth surrounding the bridge as they will; provide valuable support. This means regular brushing, flossing and keeping an eye on your diet. If you take care of your bridge and see us regularly, you can expect it to last for around ten years.
Dentures
Dentures usually replace a number of missing teeth and are made from acrylic, or a combination of acrylic and metal. Modern materials mean that partial dentures will blend in beautifully with existing teeth and complete dentures can pass for the real thing.
We offer both full dentures, also called a complete denture, which is one that replaces all the teeth at the top or the bottom of your mouth, and partial denture, which is one that fills spaces left by missing teeth.
Even if you have lost all your teeth, we recommend visiting us regularly to ensure that your dentures still fit properly and also so we can check for signs of oral disease, including mouth cancer.
Benefits
- Natural-looking appearance
- Can enhance facial shape
- Can improve eating and speaking ability
- An effective and affordable way to restore your smile
Treatment Steps
Step 1 – An initial impression is taken to make a custom built or special impression tray specifically for your mouth. It is also used to plan the design of your denture.
Step 2 – A prototype is constructed so we can check for fit, appearance and function.
Step 3 – fitting of your custom built denture ensuring you are comfortable and know how to look after your denture.
Aftercare
Your dentures may feel a little strange at first but you will soon get used to them. To make eating with your new teeth a little easier, you may want to start off with softer foods and then gradually introduce harder items. You may also notice a little more saliva but this will soon lessen and if your speech is affected, just keep talking, it will soon go back to normal.
You take care of your dentures by cleaning them with a soft brush and storing in clean water or an appropriate denture cleaner to keep them in good shape. Don’t forget to brush your gums, tongue and any remaining teeth when you take your dentures out at night.
