Discover Our Approach to Dental Crowns and Bridges
Dr. B: Bridges help replace missing teeth. So if you’re missing a molar, on the outset it may not sound like it’s really that big of a deal, but it vastly changes your ability to chew foods. If you’re missing more than one tooth in more than one place, all you have to do is ask that person, ‟Well, how well do you chew?” and they’re not going to say, ‟Hey, great, like I used to.” But when you replace missing teeth, that’s when all your function is restored. Bridges restore missing teeth, so in a nutshell, that’s what it is. Crowns on the other hand are used to restore large amounts of missing tooth structure. That’s the simplest way to put it. If you break a tooth and a filling’s not strong enough to maintain it, then a crown is when you get it. Also, you can use crowns for cosmetic purposes. If you have teeth that are malpositioned, there’s techniques for making the crowns bigger or smaller to make them appear as if they’re actually in line, or we’ve had orthodontics done. I don’t like doing that unless it’s an absolute must, but it can be done. But we try to explain to people what the benefits of crowns are and how they’ll help you specifically. Every case is a little bit different. When you do have a crown done here, we’re very attuned to your comfort, and also to the cosmetics of when you leave, does this tooth look like it was there to begin with? Is it natural looking? And does it function the way that it is supposed to be functioning?