Not treating missing teeth can not only reduce the quality of your life, it can also be harmful to the surrounding tooth and bone structure. When a tooth is missing, the surrounding teeth move to compensate – teeth above a missing tooth will come down (super erupt) and the teeth in front and behind will lean in to the space. If you have a missing tooth it is best to correct the issue. One method of correcting one or more missing teeth is to use one or more dental bridges.

Bridges are replacement teeth that are created out of porcelain or metal. There are two parts to a bridge – crowns and pontics. A pontic is the tooth that takes the space of the missing teeth. The crowns are on either side of the pontic for support. For shorter bridges, there are two crowns on either side and pontics in the middle. For longer bridges, an implant may need to be placed to help support the bridge. In this case, a crown would be placed over the implant as well as on either end of a bridge.

At our office, we use our CEREC® milling machine and specialized CEREC blocks to mill a bridge from a single piece of porcelain. This means that you can have your bridge completed in just one appointment. At your appointment, our dentists will prepare your adjacent teeth for crowns. Then our Evanston dentists will take digital impressions using our CAD/CAM computer and design your bridge to fit perfectly over the prepared teeth. Your bridge will be milled, glazed, and baked while you wait. Once the bridge is ready, our Evanston dentists are able to seat your bridge and make any necessary bite adjustments to ensure your comfort.

If a lab created bridge is required, you will need two appointments: one to prepare your teeth, take impressions and create a temporary bridge; and a second to seat the bridge after the lab sends it back to our office. In this case, there is a two to three week period between appointments while the lab creates the bridge. When you have a temporary restoration, our Evanston dentists advise against flossing or chewing hard foods such as popcorn or nuts, as this may dislodge or break the temporary restoration.