Crowns and Bridges

Missing teeth - an easy target for humourist as how many of us have not seen a clown with his front tooth blacked out? A missing tooth proves both a cosmetic as well as a functional anomaly. It is essential that a damaged or missing tooth be rapidly repaired or replaced with an artificial tooth. This will improve both the person's appearance and their overall dental health.

In addition to the extreme cases where one uses full or partial dentures, there are two other ways to repair or replace missing teeth. That is, with crowns and bridges. The picture on the right shows a full gold alloy bridge.

Why replace missing teeth?

It is important to rapidly replace missing teeth in order to prevent the other teeth from moving and provoking occlusal problems. The occlusion is how the teeth align themselves to each other when the mouth is closed. The absence of one or several teeth forces the remaining teeth to support a greater load during chewing. In certain cases this can seriously compromise the life span of these teeth. Makes sense, doesn't it? Less teeth more work!

Restorative care, such as, crowns and bridges, is used to restore teeth, as much as possible, with their brightness, force, function. This allows one to continue to smile with all one's teeth.