Crown & Bridge: Which Option Is Best For You?

As a dentist at Murphy’s Landing Family Dental in Indianapolis, we will prepare the tooth so our laboratory can create a custom-fitted crown that looks beautiful and functions like your real tooth. Once we permanently affix the new crown into place, your smile will look, feel, and work exactly as nature designed it to.

What is a bridge?

Bridges close the gap left by one or more missing teeth by using a combination of crowns and artificial teeth. It restores the look of your smile and redistributes the workload amongst your teeth more evenly.

There are several different kinds of bridges so when you require one, we’ll talk about options with you that will provide you with the best solution. And, similar to crowns, if you take proper care of your bridge by flossing and brushing every day, it should last for about 10 years or longer.

What happens when you lose a tooth?

Many of us, during our adult lives, will lose a tooth to injury, decay, or gum disease. When that happens, chewing forces can shift front to back and side to side. This can cause teeth to move, shift, even flare out, causing unwanted spaces. It can be a domino effect that can seriously alter the look of your smile, jawline, and face. When teeth are not replaced, wrinkles and lines can also form, causing premature aging. You’ll also lose bone structure in your jaw, which is why face changes may occur. It is for all these reasons, crown and bridge treatment is one option we recommend when teeth are lost.

As a dentist near you in Indianapolis, we can restore and improve your smile using a combination of crowns and bridges to support or even replace lost teeth.

How to care for and maintain your crowns and bridges…

Crowns and bridges cover most of the tooth surface, but it’s the area you cannot see that offers the greatest potential for problems. Where the crown meets your natural tooth, usually at or below the gumline, is called the margin. The margin usually has a small ridge where plaque and bacteria may collect. If even the slightest amount of decay develops under your crown, it can progress unchecked as normal radiographs cannot see through a crown. That’s why an excellent homecare routine is required – both brushing twice a day and flossing once a day.

It’s also important to remove any plaque that may build up between the artificial teeth and the gums to prevent inflammation, bad tastes, and bad breath. This is easily done with floss that has been adapted to cleaning bridges and we’ll show you the best approach for your smile. Irrigation devices can also be helpful.

Quick Crown & Bridge Recap

Crowns & Bridges can:

• help you feel more confident
• replace up to three missing teeth in a row at any location in your mouth (incisors or molars)
• enable you to speak more clearly
• restore your ability to eat the foods you enjoy
• increase the variety of foods you can choose to eat
• help to maintain face shape by supporting your cheeks, eliminating that “sunken” look
• help plump your lips by replacing teeth in the front of your mouth
• distribute chewing forces so that your remaining natural teeth or other restorations don’t have increased work, wear, and tear
• stop remaining teeth from drifting into the space left by the missing tooth
• increase your smile power
• last for decades with proper care.

Crowns and bridges are one of the most popular restorations we place, with literally millions being worn by North Americans. Because of the modern materials available to dentists and denturists these days, they’re beautiful, natural-looking, and undetectable. We’ve placed hundreds of bridges over the years so you can feel comfortable knowing your restoration will fit well, look amazing, and help you obtain optimal nutrition.

Adequate time spent with proper maintenance will lead to years of crown and bridge service. If you aren’t sure what special techniques your teeth require, phone Murphy’s Landing Family Dental at (317) 743-2067. As your dentist in Indianapolis, we’re happy to help!