The first thought that comes to mind when you lose a tooth is the gap that is left. The effects, however, are not limited to aesthetics and can affect oral health in several ways. The removal of one tooth could compromise the integrity of the whole structure.

The initial step to regaining the functionality and integrity of your smile is knowing the symptoms indicating you may need a type of tooth replacement, namely, a dental bridge. These symptoms directly suggest that the natural balance of your mouth is broken and requires the attention of a professional dentist to avoid the chain reaction of other complications. 

You should get dental bridges if:

One or More Missing Teeth

The most obvious and prevalent reason the dentist will suggest a conventional dental bridge is when you miss one to three consecutive teeth. As the name suggests, the restoration fills in the gap.

A dental bridge comprises two major components:

  1. The pontic is the artificial tooth, which is specially crafted to fit into the gap.
  2. The abutments. These dental crowns are carefully attached to the healthy teeth on both sides of the gap.

These crowned teeth are strong, supportive anchors that keep the pontic in place and make it seamlessly a single, perfectly functioning unit that cannot be removed.

This elegant design renders the bridge helpful in replacing a row of lost teeth. It uses the natural strength of your existing teeth to hold the replacement in place and spread the forces of biting and chewing throughout the structure.

A three-unit bridge, with two crowns on the adjacent teeth and one pontic in the middle, is the conventional, time-tested remedy should you have a single missing tooth. 

If you have lost two teeth, one right next to the other, a four-unit bridge would be made to fill the gap in the space. Attaching an appliance to replace several missing teeth can be challenging, especially when the span length is considerable. A bridge is suitable for shorter spans. To fill in a four-tooth or more gap with a conventional bridge would put a gigantic strain and stress on the supporting teeth, making the bridge highly likely to fail. 

That is why this indication is so precise. It offers a secure and permanent solution that does not require separate implants per lost tooth. Thus, it is a very effective and clinically tested treatment for this particular sequence of tooth loss.

Strong and reliable porcelain-fused-to-metal is used for back teeth, while zirconia or all-ceramic materials are preferred for front teeth due to their strength and superior appearance.

You Experience Chewing or Speaking Problems

Losing at least one tooth is likely to severely interfere with the intricate process of chewing, mastication, and speech. Your teeth are meant to act as an integrated and highly efficient unit, and when one of the members is lost, then the whole system is crippled. You may not realize that you are forming new habits, like not eating some types of food that you liked before. 

Hard-to-digest fibrous vegetables, hard fruits, nuts, and tough meat may become difficult to break down. This regularly causes you to chew on the other side of your mouth, and this can cause undue strain, pressure, and premature wear on the other teeth in the long run. This imbalance may go to the extent of causing muscle fatigue and soreness in your jaw. Moreover, destructive chewing makes eating unpleasant and can hurt your digestion because the crucial stage of digestion, which starts in the mouth, involves breaking food and combining it with enzymes.

Likewise, your teeth play an essential and not-so-simple role in articulation and sound formation. They serve as a physical shield and a specific place where your tongue and lips can form the particular phonetic sounds. The airflow varies when missing a tooth, particularly at the front of your mouth. Your tongue can no longer make the right contact with your teeth to produce certain words clearly. 

It may affect the sibilant /s/ or /sh/ and the distinctness of fricatives /f/ and /v/ that usually involve the contact between lips and teeth. The outcome may be a slight lisp, slurring, or involuntary whistling of the voice when you speak, which may lead to great self-consciousness and the unwillingness to participate in conversations freely. These functions are restored with excellent efficiency using a dental bridge. 

The bridge closure restores a whole and healthy chewing surface that will enable you to enjoy a healthy, well-balanced diet comfortably and without hesitation. It also gives the proper physical framework to your tongue and lips to make the right sounds, giving back the perfect articulation of your speech.

Your Left Tooth Is Slipping or Tipping

Among the most severe yet least known impacts of a lost tooth is the pernicious cascade effect it will cause on your other teeth. It is not only your jawbone that keeps your teeth in a constant, stable position, but also the minute, constant force they have on each other. This is what keeps the so-called occlusal harmony. This delicate equilibrium is destroyed when one tooth is lost, and the teeth on either side instantly lose their lateral support.

The teeth in the back of the gap will tilt forward into space in a predictable biological process known as mesial drift. Simultaneously, the tooth in the opposite jaw, now deprived of a partner to bite, can begin to supra-erupt, or in other words, gradually start to extend out of its socket in search of its absent partner.

The shifting process is not a benign or harmless adaptation but the onset of dental issues. The teeth tilt and drift, causing the once-aligned bite to become unbalanced, resulting in malocclusion. An incorrect bite exerts unnatural stress on your teeth and the temporomandibular joints, or TMJ, of your jaw, which can be damaging. This may result in chronic headaches, pain in the face or neck with no apparent cause, jaw clicking or popping, and even cracked or severely worn-down teeth.

Moreover, tilting and crowding create new, difficult-to-clean angles and crevices that easily trap plaque. This causes a drastic possibility of tooth decay and periodontal disease or gum disease in your teeth, which were perfectly healthy before.

They almost cannot floss their teeth in these regions. A dental bridge is a vital provision and preventive measure. Sealing the gap stops this damaging shifting, keeping your remaining teeth healthy and functional, and maintaining long-term health and stability.

You Are Concerned About How Your Smile Looks

The effect of the lost tooth on your self-image and psychological health cannot be overestimated. An apparent disfigurement, especially at the front of your mouth, will cause you to be reluctant to smile, laugh freely, or even talk in societal and work environments. It is usually one of the first things people look at, and the awareness of this aspect can result in a lot of self-consciousness regarding your appearance.

You can also form minor habits to conceal the gap, like speaking with your mouth covered, using closed-mouth smiles in the photos, or avoiding socializing. This psychological and emotional stress is a legitimate and real cause of finding a high-quality restorative solution.

A dental bridge is a great cosmetic procedure meant to restore the natural beauty of your smile seamlessly and permanently. It is done by a blend of clinical accuracy and creative art to make the end product look almost just like your natural teeth. Your dentist makes exact digital or physical impressions of your mouth to make a bridge that perfectly fits your gum line and between the other teeth. The pontic (or the artificial tooth) is carefully designed and carved in the proportions and anatomy of its neighbors. 

Contemporary dental bridges are made of high-quality materials such as zirconia or porcelain. They are famous for their strength and imitation of natural tooth enamel translucency, luster, and color.

The dentist works closely with you using a shade guide to choose the correct shade so that the bridge perfectly matches your natural teeth. In other instances, custom staining is applied to recreate the finer details of your own individual smile. The outcome is a complete, beautiful smile that is natural to look at and feel, making you gain confidence and be able to express yourself freely and joyfully without any doubt.

You Would Like to Maintain Your Facial Structure

Your teeth and their roots are not merely the means of chewing but of vital, active importance in keeping up the health of your jawbone and the general structure of your face. This is because the roots of your teeth constantly stimulate the alveolar bone, which is the portion of your jaw that the teeth are attached to. This tells your body that this part of your bone is required and must always be maintained and renewed. 

With the loss of a tooth, that essential stimulation ceases immediately. Your body, in turn, initiates a natural and irreversible bone resorption process in which the bone tissue in that area slowly decays and degenerates, as doing so will no longer be its primary purpose to help support a tooth. It may happen quickly during the first year of losing teeth.

This loss of bone may significantly and noticeably affect your appearance as time passes. The jawbone may become shorter and narrower, which may result in the lips and cheeks not being supported enough and therefore lead to a loss of volume or a sinking of the cheeks. This may lead to what is sometimes known as a facial collapse that causes premature wrinkles around your mouth. Lips become thinner, and the space between your nose and chin is reduced, giving you a more elderly and rough-looking face. 

Although dental implants are the best solution to prevent bone loss—since they directly replace the tooth root and stimulate the bone—a dental bridge provides indirect support that helps maintain your facial shape. A bridge can fill the gap and spread bite forces on the jaw to maintain the position of your remaining teeth. Most importantly, it keeps your bite (vertical) between your upper and lower jaws in the correct position, does not allow the shortening of the face (which may happen), and keeps you looking fuller and younger.

The Reasons Why a Dental Bridge Could Be Advised Over the Alternatives

When you lose one or more teeth, you will consider various alternatives, the most common being dental bridges, dental implants, and removable partial dentures. Although both are valid, there are clinical circumstances and patient preferences where a dental bridge will become the most appropriate and recommended option.

Not every choice favoring a bridge or an implant is invariably easy. It relies on a thorough and joint assessment of your oral health situation, lifestyle, and treatment objectives. There are several essential things that a dentist of South Coast Dentistry takes into account before prescribing a bridge so that the treatment will reflect exactly what you need and want at this moment. This is to have a healthy and working smile.

The Health of Your Neighboring Teeth

The health of teeth on either side of the gap is the fundamental component of the viability of a traditional dental bridge. These are the teeth referred to as the abutment teeth, and they are the pillars on which the whole structure of the bridge is constructed. To qualify as a good candidate for this restoration, your abutment teeth should be healthy and strong and have a good and healthy bone to support the extra functional forces exerted on them over the years. 

A dentist will perform a comprehensive examination that includes X-rays to determine the structure of the roots, the ratio of the crown to the root (the amount of tooth above the gum line and the amount of tooth that is rooted in the bone), and the health of these teeth. They should not have massive degeneration, big fillings that may jeopardize their structural stability, or any evidence of gum disease.

This requirement can make the treatment decision clearer in certain situations. If the teeth beside them already have massive fillings or crowns that require replacement, a bridge can be an extraordinarily effective and rational solution, since it will be a way of dealing with several dental problems at once. 

On the other hand, when your adjacent teeth are healthy and have no fillings or cavities, a dentist may recommend a dental implant as a less invasive procedure. No implant will demand any modification or preparation for these clean teeth. Finally, the most important considerations must be strength and long-term health; without being strong enough to hold the bridge, all the restoration might be at stake in an untimely collapse.

Your Preference and Timeline of Treatment

Practical aspects such as your treatment schedule, money, and individual tastes are crucial in replacing your teeth. One of the main advantages of a dental bridge is that the treatment is relatively fast and efficient. It is usually a matter of two to three visits to the dental office, over a few weeks, before the whole procedure, including the initial consultation and the final placement of your beautiful permanent bridge, is finished. 

The initial visit entails preparing the abutment teeth, highly accurate impressions, and installing a tailor-made temporary bridge to protect the teeth and aesthetics. The second visit will be done when a dental laboratory has made your bridge permanent and it is ready to be placed; the temporary bridge will be removed, and the fitting and bite of the new bridge will be carefully checked, as well as the permanent cementing of the new bridge. This is why it is a perfect solution to quickly restore your ability to smile and chew comfortably.

By contrast, the procedure for a dental implant is much longer and more complex. It involves a surgical operation to insert the implant post in the jawbone, after which it takes several months to heal through a process known as osseointegration—the most critical process, where the bone merges with the implant surface. Only then can the final crown be attached when this healing is done. 

Although the benefits of implants have unique features, such a long period may not be appropriate or even preferable to all. Moreover, not all patients are perfect surgical patients because of a lack of bone density (and the unwillingness to receive a bone graft), medical issues, or lifestyles. A dental bridge is highly effective, time-efficient, and predictable if you want a less invasive, non-surgical procedure and an answer to your missing tooth even faster. It involves high-quality functional and aesthetic results with no long waiting line.

Find a Reputable South Coast Dental Office Near Me

If you have a problem with chewing, feel embarrassed by a tooth gap, or are starting to feel concerned about your teeth shifting, these are definite signs that you need to consider restorative alternatives. A dental bridge is a reliable, attractive, and functional solution that may address these issues and radically reclaim your living standards. However, it can only be determined through a professional consultation whether it is the correct decision to make in your clinical case.

You do not have to live with the consequences of missing a tooth. South Coast Dentistry's skilled and caring professionals are ready to support you, discuss your choices, and restore your smile's health, functionality, and attractiveness. Your oral health will be carefully assessed, and we will listen to your needs and concerns and make a special treatment recommendation. Call us now at 949-274-9086 to schedule your appointment and take the step towards a complete, confident smile.