Dental Bridge
Serving Santa Rosa and San Francisco, California
Aesthetic Metal-Free Bridges
With advancements in technology, a missing tooth can be replaced without a metal or metal substructure bridge. Either an implant based tooth or non-metal bridge can be placed that will rival nature. There is a significant aesthetic advantage to these newer approaches. See for yourself!
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Filling the space of a missing tooth is more than plugging a hole, particularly when it comes to aesthetic dentistry. Color is important, but so is shape and form. The goal is to create an illusion of reality so that it is not apparent there was a tooth missing in the first place. There are several points considered when attempting to correct a gap:
- Gum and bone contours that are healthy. Often, when a tooth is missing, the supportive bone form has disappeared. When this happens, the ridge will appear sunken in. To capture the original bone structure, the soft tissue/bony ridge must be built up. This can be accomplished with a minor grafting procedure prior to dental bridge or implant placement.
- Teeth that appear to emerge from the jaw bone. This is like "having a good figure". The replacement tooth, whether it is a bridge or implant, must appear to be growing out of the gum tissue just like a natural tooth. This is the most important aesthetic factor is achieving a natural result.
- Papillae (gum peaks) between the teeth. What in the world does this mean? I am sure you have seen it-those black holes between teeth and the gum line that can be traps for broccoli or spinach. An embarrassing moment if it appears that way in public! When the gums don't fill these spaces food often catches between the teeth. With advanced aesthetic dentistry, these spaces can be redesigned to not only look good but to protect the tooth from unhealthy food trapping the build up of destructive bacteria.
- Adjacent teeth that are attractive and healthy. When one house in the neighborhood is spruced up compared to the other homes in the neighborhood, it can end up looking out of place. The same goes for a tooth community. It is important to make sure all the teeth blend in their overall appearance. Quite often in smile design makeovers, I will treat at least the eight, if not ten, front teeth for ideal visual harmony.
Spaces are not only smile killers; they can also destabilize the bite and allow teeth to drift. |
When paying close attention to several aesthetic principles, natural tooth replacement can happen. |
