Missing teeth? Annoying spaces in between teeth? Abnormally absent teeth? Accidents that dislodged teeth?
These are actual problems that need to be resolved before the rest of your remaining teeth get affected too. If you lost your teeth, chances are, the teeth surrounding the space migrate towards that space. And teeth going to places where they are not supposed to be can cause tooth sensitivity because roots will be exposed from bending and tilting trying to occupy those left spaces.
Jaw joint problems, among many others, may also arise because when your teeth migrate, your bite changes. When there are abnormal bite changes, your jaw joint will dislocate. Imagine walking with your dislocated knee. Ouch!
So, you want to do something about these spaces, right? There are numerous ways to replace missing teeth just like the case presented. A dental bridge is a dental treatment option to treat missing teeth caused by various reasons. Dental bridges are the good dental treatment of choice if you are adamant about surgical procedures like dental implants or removable denture options. It is a safe and comfortable procedure, albeit the least conservative. It is a fixed type of denture and usually maintained similar to your natural tooth, just using a different kind of floss to clean.
The idea of a dental bridge is similar to an actual bridge you ride your car to. The "pillars" of the bridge are like the Abutments or the natural tooth remaining that will hold and support the dental bridge system. The "bridgeway" is likened to the Pontic or the substitute for the missing tooth. A dental bridge is intricately engineered differently per case. With this, it is also expected that not all missing teeth are qualified in getting a dental bridge because of the lack of minimum requirements.
In this case posted, the upper dental bridge, in particular, needed 3 healthy and big abutments at least to support the 3 missing teeth. This is considered a long-span dental bridge because it involved almost the entire upper right teeth. And long span bridges need very durable materials to do their job and Zirconia qualifies in this case.
Zirconia dental bridges and Zirconia dental crowns have been popular for the past 10 years and are still the most durable dental bridge and dental crowns available on the market as of date. The reason for its popularity is its high strength that doesn't compromise esthetics.
Zirconia bridges and crowns are made from Zirconium Oxide and it is basically a metal similar to titanium. Zirconia is so hard that it is 1.5 shies away from a diamond on the Mohs scale of hardness.
The case shown is a Pure Zirconia dental bridge. Nowadays, depending on your teeth characteristics, it is very easy to mimic the natural teeth using Zirconia because of dental technician skills in hand painting this Zirconia. Although porcelain will still give you the highest esthetic value, Zirconia without a doubt wins in durability--our number 1 priority in this specific case. Zirconia often gives an opaque color, which means that it blocks light rather than making it pass through. That is why when getting Zirconia, it is vital for you to know this information. Because if you are after high esthetic value without sacrificing that much durability and budget is less of a concern, there are other dental bridge materials available like porcelain fused to zirconia,
Porcelain fused to zirconia is a combination of durable Zirconia and highly esthetic porcelain. Zirconia is used as a base of the dental bridge to provide strength and porcelain is layered on top to provide esthetics through translucency and accurate depiction of natural teeth.
Pure Zirconia price is relatively cheaper than porcelain-fused-to-zirconia, thus the material of choice in this case. Luckily, the natural teeth of this case are not very translucent making the Zirconia still esthetic despite it being opaque. Staining or painting the tooth was enough to match the bridge with its natural counterpart.
Like I said, every case is different because every person and every tooth is different. It is best to book an appointment with us if you want a personalized dental treatment plan that best suits you. You may email us at dr.rafaelle@gmail.com or text message/WhatsApp/Viber us at (+63) 977 813 0101 if you have questions and inquiries.
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