Has anyone got a dental bridge?

my 18 year old daughter has had problems with one tooth for several years, its the first double tooth. shes had a root canal for a while now but keeps getting an infection in it. dentist said last time that if it happens again then he wants to take the root out and make a bridge for. anyone know what this will involve. she s very dental phobic and hates having anything done . thanks for your help.

Has anyone got a dental bridge?
Usually, a bridge involves filing down the teeth either side of the gap once the infected tooth has been removed,this is done about 3-6 months after the extraction to allow the gum to settle. The bridge is made up of 2 crowns with a false porcelain crown in the middle. The crowns are cemented on and the bridge should last for years as long as your daughter keeps the bridge,(and the rest of her mouth),clean and healthy. Your daughter has had root canal done so Im sure she will cope with a bridge prep,it's unfortunate that the root treatment has failed, a bridge is a good replacement for a missing tooth. At the appointment,the Dentist will do some drilling to file the teeth down and take impressions,depending on the surgery, a further appointment a couple of weeks later will be needed to fit the bridge. It will be worth it and I wish your daughter luck.
Reply:i had a bridge put in when i was 18 and i'm now 40 and have never had any bother with it. Its just like getting a crown done. The dentist will file the healthy tooth down to a point and cement the crown and bridge to it. Simple and painless and i would recommend it. Good luck to her.
Reply:Yes, I have two dental bridges in fact - after a nasty fall off my bike as a child flat onto my face in the road. It entails removing the nerves of the two teeth adjoining the gap made by removing the tooth and cementing three "false" teeth in place - thereby forming a "bridge". Very comfortable and not noticeable and your daughter can rest assured that her dentist will give her sufficient pain relief and make her comfortable while undergoing the process - which will entail having a temporary bridge first until the permanent one is cast. She won't regret it.
Reply:I have had a bridge for forty years , best treatment to have, much better than a plate!
Reply:They will not have to take the roots out of the perfectly healthy teeth on either side of the space where the other one comes out. What they do is prepare those two teeth for crowns by shaving around the outside to make the teeth smaller. That way they can get the crowns the same size as her teeth were originally and they will just fit on the tooth like a thimble.





They will need to take a couple of impressions of the teeth. They will use a type of cord/string (soaked in a solution to prevent bleeding) and tuck it under the gums around the tooth to retract the gums. This will make sure that the crown will fit down all the way (and it will look natural). This is when they take an impression with a rubbery substance. It has a lot more detail than the alginate stuff. They will check the colour of her teeth against a shade guide so that the colour matches.





Once they have everything prepped and the impressions, they will put on temporary crowns on the teeth that they prepped because, since they shaved away the enamel, the tooth would be more sensitive. This also prevents the tooth from being damaged. The temporary crowns will not be pretty and they can NOT match the colour. It is just to protect the tooth in the meantime while they send all the impressions and information to the lab to get the crowns made.





The bridge will come back like three teeth stuck together. The one in the middle to replace her missing tooth is solid and the ones on either side are hollow so that they fit over the teeth that she had prepped in the first appointment.





The second appointment should only take a few minutes. They will probably not need to freeze her again for this, so she may have some sensitivity when they take the temporaries off. Then they make sure that the teeth are clean and dry, then cement the bridge in place. Depending on they type of cement they use, they may use a light to harden it. They will tap the crown into place and make sure the bite and everything is ok. It would still be wise to go easy on that side for at least a couple of hours, just to make sure everything's set.
Reply:First of all, have this tooth evaluated by an endodontist [root canal specialist]. It may still be able to be saved. Second, if she does lose the tooth the first choice is a dental implant and crown, not a fixed bridge. With a fixed bridge, the teeth on either side of the space must be shaved down and capped to hold the false tooth [not a good thing unless no other alternative]. With the implant and crown nothing has to be done to the other teeth. Cost wise, both a fixed bridge and implant/crown are about the same.