Page 40 - Amazing Smiles

CHAPTER THREE figure 40

If teeth exist on either side of the space
created by the lost tooth or teeth, another solu-
tion would be a fixed bridge (figure 40).

A fixed bridge consists of preparing the
teeth and placing a crown on either side of the
space created by the missing tooth/teeth. An
impression of the prepared teeth is taken and sent
to a dental lab. At the lab, a model of the mouth
with the prepared teeth is made. The technician
will include 2 crowns, one on each prepared
tooth on either side of the space.The fake dummy
tooth (called a pontic) is fused to the two prepared
crowns. The entire fixed bridge (two crowns and
pontic) is sent back to the dentist and is perma-
nently cemented onto the two prepared teeth in
the patient’s mouth. The missing tooth is now
replaced.

Fixed bridges, like crowns, can be made of
porcelain-fused-to-metal, or all porcelain. The same
considerations for cosmetics and the rules for
strength and cosmetics apply as they do for crowns.
(figure 41)

32 figure 41