Dental Bridge

At Raymond Liu, DDS, Family Dentistry, we use customized dental bridges to place an artificial porcelain tooth, replacing a lost tooth. Dental bridges are designed to fill in gaps from missing teeth in your mouth. Using a piece that is specifically designed to fit your mouth and your teeth, we encase two surrounding teeth with dental crowns and then a solid artificial tooth structure between them, filling that gap with a tooth that resembles your missing natural tooth structure.

GAPS IN YOUR SMILE?

Missing teeth can affect your bite, your jaw alignment, and your appearance. Don't make compromises with your self-confidence, how you speak, or what you eat, let us help you fill that gap allowing you to chew and speak naturally.

WHAT IS A DENTAL BRIDGE?

Dental bridges are false teeth or multiple teeth that are anchored using the neighboring teeth or dental implants, thereby providing a substitute for missing teeth. Filling the gap of a missing tooth is important. We are able to stop other problems from progressing with a dental bridge. With a dental bridge, Dr. Liu is able to help your teeth from:

  • shifting, which will affect your bite and alignment.

  • giving you an older appearance, missing teeth causing bone atrophy, and changing your face shape with time.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIXED AND REMOVABLE BRIDGES?

Removable Dental Bridges

A removable dental bridge is held using clasps that wrap around your remaining teeth and are held tightly to the contours of the mouth. We advise our patients to remove this bridge daily for cleaning and sleeping. Some patients have reported this to be more hygienic because you can take it out, brush your teeth, clean the bridge thoroughly, and put it back in. A removable bridge is ideal for our patients who are medically compromised and cannot handle more invasive dental procedures such as a dental implant. Removable dentures are also sometimes preferred because though they do rely on adjacent teeth for support and retention, it does not necessarily depend on the condition of their adjacent teeth for success.

Fixed Dental Bridges

Fixed dental bridges are permanent, non-removable porcelain teeth. We anchor the permanent bridge to two strong teeth, which may be dental implants, and then cement it into place. This option does rely on having two healthy bases to attach the bridge to. It should be noted that to prepare your base teeth to receive the dental bridge, we do irreversibly prepare the base teeth. This solid solution allows our patients to forget about the dental bridge, they can resume eating foods that they may have avoided. Some patients have bought special floss or even an irrigator for cleaning this fixed device.

For more information on how Dr. Liu can help fill the gap from a missing tooth, contact our Edmonds, WA office at (425) 771-2100.