Crowns and Bridges: Simple, Effective Ways To Restore & Replace Teeth
Your teeth are an essential part of your life, not just because they help you eat, speak, and smile, but also because they help preserve your overall health. Your teeth aid in digestion, protect your gums, and support each other to prevent misalignment.
However, your teeth aren’t indestructible, so when they become damaged or fall out, they need to be repaired or replaced. Fortunately, the dentists at Downtown Dental Group can replace and repair teeth with dental crowns and bridges.
What Are Crowns?
Crowns are dental restorations that are customized to look like your natural teeth, but come equipped with a hollowing opening. They can be fitted over damaged teeth to repair them and can also be used as the finishing touch in restorative processes such as root canal therapy.
Unlike traditional crowns that require bad tasting impressions be taken of your mouth and teeth, our dentists can craft your crowns in-office using Computer Assisted Designing and Computer Aided Manufacturing or CAD/CAM design and a specialized milling machine in less than two hours. Crowns are also used as the tooth replacement component of dental implants and serve as the anchors for bridges.
What Are Bridges?
A bridge is a single or multi-tooth restorative option that relies on your healthy teeth for support instead of implants. This particular restoration is made of two crowns on either end of a row of false teeth called pontics. The pontics are held in place by your anchor teeth, healthy teeth on either side of the empty space left behind by your missing teeth.
These anchor teeth are filed down and fitted so they can accommodate the crowns and cemented in place with a special dental adhesive. This combination of false teeth and crowns ‘bridges the gap’ that occurs when you lose one or more teeth. Just like singular crowns, bridges are designed to blend seamlessly with your natural smile.
Benefits of Crowns and Bridges
Crowns and bridges offer numerous benefits for your oral health benefits, some of which are as follows:
- Non-invasive installation
- Help repair damaged teeth
- No drawn out healing times
- Long-lasting with proper oral hygiene and regular dental exams
- Can usually be manufactured relatively quickly
- Designed to match your unique smile
- Often made from stain resistant materials that help prevent discoloring
- Prevents other teeth from shifting out of place
- Especially useful for patients who don’t qualify for dental implants
The Dental Crowns and Bridges Process
The processes for getting a crown or a bridge are similar. Here’s what to expect:
Consultation
Before our dentists can recommend crowns or bridges, you’ll undergo a consultation to determine your candidacy. Your dentist will thoroughly examine your mouth, teeth, and gums, review your medical history, and ask you questions about your oral health. They’ll also tell you about your other options so you can make an informed decision.
Preparing Your Teeth
Once you and your dentist have decided that a crown or a bridge is right for you, we’ll prep your teeth with a thorough cleaning and apply a local anesthetic so you don’t feel any pain. If necessary, we’ll remove any damaged or decayed material from inside the necessary teeth with special tools and antiseptic. Then, your dentist will remove a small amount of enamel from these teeth, shaping them into a base for the crowns.
Designing Your Crowns and Bridges
Once your teeth are prepped, we’ll take an impression to ensure the crowns fit securely and naturally. In most cases, we use a digital scanner that takes 3-D images of your teeth, eliminating the need for messy bite trays and impression media.
These images and impressions will allow us to design your crowns and the false teeth used in bridges. For more complex cases, we’ll send these images and impressions to an offsite lab. From there, they’ll serve as the blueprints technicians use to design your restoration.
Installing Your Crowns and Bridges
Before installing your crown or bridge, your dentist will make sure it’s to your liking. Then the restoration will be cemented into place with a special dental adhesive. Once your restoration is in place, you’ll be free to enjoy your restored smile.
Frequently Asked Questions
The cost of your crown or bridge will depend on several factors such as how many crowns you need in the case of singular crown restorations, how many teeth need to be replaced in the case of a bridge restoration, and your insurance coverage. Be sure to call your insurance provider beforehand to review your benefits.
Crowns and bridges aren’t permanent, but they can be long-lasting. Crowns and bridges tend to last five to 15 years, but this time frame varies based on your oral hygiene, the materials used, and how regularly you see your dentist. We encourage you to visit Downtown Dental Group at least every six months for regular dental exams and so your dentist can help maintain your restoration.
Before your dentist removes enamel from any teeth for crown or bridge placement, we use a local anesthetic to ensure your procedure is painless. Afterward, some minor soreness or discomfort is normal and should go away within a week or two. You should be able to treat this pain with cold compresses or over-the-counter pain relievers.
Crowns and Bridges Offer Stunning, Simple Restoration Options
Crowns and bridges can help restore your smile and your confidence without more invasive procedures and costlier restorations. To learn more about crowns and bridges, call Downtown Dental Group at our Manhattan office by dialing (785) 776-0097. You can also request an appointment online and we’ll get back to you shortly.