5 Helpful Facts About Crowns and Bridges

 If you have a badly damaged or missing tooth, it can affect your confidence and increase your risk of developing further dental problems. At Fremaux Dental Care, we fit crowns and bridges to overcome these issues and restore a healthy, attractive smile. But what are crowns and bridges, and how well do they work?

How we use crowns and bridges 

Crowns are caps that cover the remains of a damaged tooth. They fit over the tooth’s surface, hiding the holes left by decay or unsightly chips and cracks. Bridges replace a missing tooth, filling the hole with an artificial tooth that attaches to the teeth on either side.

You might wonder why we don’t just extract damaged teeth and offer patients dentures or dental implants instead. We do provide these services, but we only extract teeth if they’re beyond saving. It’s always better to keep your natural teeth wherever possible, so we try to save them with restorative procedures like root canals and fitting crowns.

Bridges are a proven approach to replacing missing teeth when there are healthy teeth either side. They offer an alternative for patients who aren’t suited to implants or don’t wish to have them.

Crowns and bridges: The facts

Here are five helpful facts about crowns and bridges that will help you make an informed choice if you need restorative dentistry.

1. Crowns and bridges look natural

The materials we use ensure our crowns and bridges look just like real teeth. We can match the color and shape of your natural teeth so no one would realize you have artificial tooth replacements.

2. Crowns and bridges help you speak and chew

Missing and damaged teeth affect the way your jaws align. That means your teeth don’t grind against each other as they should when you eat and it can be hard to make clear sounds when talking. Restoring a tooth’s shape and height ensures the teeth meet properly so you can eat and chat with ease.

3. Crowns and bridges are long-lasting

Provided you care for them properly, crowns and bridges can last 10-12 years or even more. Our dentists always provide patients with advice on cleaning their crowns and bridges and preventing damage. We also recommend regular dental hygienist visits to clean out the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies and dental checkups to ensure the crowns and bridges are in good condition.

4. Fitting crowns and bridges is straightforward

You won’t need to spend hours in the dentist’s chair with our modern approach to fitting crowns and bridges. You might need to make a couple of trips for a bridge, but we can often do everything on the same day. For example, we have a Dentsply Sirona CEREC milling machine to make custom crowns on site. Your dentist digitally scans the damaged or decayed tooth into a computer-aided design (CAD) program and creates a blueprint. They upload this to the CEREC machine, which produces a ceramic crown.

5. Crowns and bridges are used in implant procedures

Dental implants are the most permanent solution to missing teeth because they’re titanium posts that screw into your jawbone, creating an artificial root. Once the implant is secure in the bone, we fit crowns cover the posts to complete the procedure. We can also fit bridges between dental implants to reduce the number of posts in your jaw.

Should you need restorative dentistry for a missing, diseased, or damaged tooth, crowns and bridges offer a cost-effective answer. To learn more about crowns and bridges, call our experienced team at Fremaux Dental Care or simply use our online booking feature to schedule a consultation.