Dental Bridges

A dental bridge is a fixed dental restoration used to replace one or more missing teeth by permanently joining an artificial tooth to the adjacent teeth or to dental implants. The replacement tooth is called a pontic, and it is supported by retainers cemented onto the neighbouring abutment teeth. In a conventional bridge the abutment teeth are prepared and reduced to carry full-coverage crowns, three-quarter crowns, post-retained crowns, inlays or onlays that support the prosthesis. Bridges are named according to how the pontic is connected: a fixed-fixed design is rigidly attached to a retainer at both ends and requires the abutment teeth to be prepared parallel to one another; a cantilever bridge is attached to a retainer on only one side; and a fixed-movable design uses a rigid connector at one end and a movable joint at the other to accommodate differences in the angulation of the abutment teeth. Pontics come in several forms, including hygienic (sanitary), dome (bullet), ridge-lap, modified ridge-lap and ovate designs, each chosen to balance appearance against ease of cleaning. Bridges can be provisional (temporary) restorations that protect prepared teeth while the final restoration is made, or permanent. They are constructed from metals such as gold or base-metal alloys, or from non-metal materials including porcelain fused to metal and all-ceramic options such as zirconia; porcelain fused to metal is a long-established and well-documented choice.