Bridges and crowns are prosthetic devices used in affordable cosmetic dentistry centers to restore the attractiveness of your face as well as the smile. These devices are cemented to the existing implants or teeth and cannot be removed on a daily basis. Only a dentist can remove it.
How does it work?
Crown is a cap provided on the damaged tooth to cover the ugly looking damaged one. It is usually used to improve the shape or appearance of the existing tooth or to realign the misaligned teeth. It is also placed on an implant to give it a tooth like shape. Porcelain or ceramic are the common materials used for making crowns. Other materials like metal alloys, gold, acrylic etc are also used. These are very stronger and hence are used for the back teeth.
Usual circumstances which necessitates the use of crowns
- When good part of the tooth is lost, it is used for substituting the loss
- To avoid fracturing of a week tooth
- To restore one or more fractured teeth
- As cover for dental implants
- To cover a poorly shaped or discolored tooth
- To cover a tooth after root canal treatment
How tooth bridge works?
Bridges is often recommended when one or two teeth are missing. If there is any gap between teeth, it causes other teeth to rotate and change its place into the empty gap. Missing teeth can lead to gum diseases and temporomandibular joint problems. The bridges usually span the gap where the tooth is missing. In implants they act as strong base called abutments. They serve as anchors for the bridges. Replacement tooth known as pontic is attached to the crown covering the abutments. Like crowns the user has a choice for the materials used for bridges. There is porcelain, ceramic etc which can be matched to the original color of your teeth.
How they are made?
A tooth (or teeth) has to be reduced so as to make the bridge or crown exactly fitting over it. After completing the reduction of the tooth (or teeth) surgeon takes an impression of them for molding exactly fitting crown or bridge. If porcelain is used as material for bridge or crown, your surgeon will determine the correct shade to be used to make it look exactly like the original one. In the cosmetic dentistry lab bridge or crown is made using the impression already taken. When it is ready, it is fixed by cementing on the reduced teeth.
