Is It Painful Getting a Dental Bridge?
When you lose a tooth, you find an overwhelming need to get a replacement for the mission tooth to cover the gap between your teeth and restore their functionality. Dental bridges are excellent replacement solutions for missing teeth because it bridges the void left by your missing tooth.
When you consider replacing your tooth, you also wonder whether the tooth replacement solution you want is comfortable or painful. The situation depends on whether or not you have two healthy teeth on either side of the missing tooth or need additional treatments to support the dental bridge.
Therefore it helps if you schedule an appointment with the dental bridge specialist in Huntington Beach to discuss whether a bridge is best suited for your situation.
Is the Dental Bridge Process Painful?
The dental bridge process is more comfortable than the discomfort you endure with your missing tooth, making you susceptible to various complications needing treatments from different dental specialists at high prices.
For example, a missing tooth causes your remaining teeth to drift towards the vacant gap, creating a misalignment requiring orthodontists’ treatments. If you leave the blank space untreated, the area becomes a breeding ground for bacteria to cause infections like tooth decay and gum disease needing help from periodontists.
In addition, you also become nutritionally deficient because the missing tooth doesn’t allow you to chew foods compelling you to swallow large chunks leading to indigestion. The cumulative expenditure of all treatments will hurt more than the dental bridge process.
When you consider getting dental bridges, you must endure minor discomfort, which the provider ensures is minimized by giving you local anesthesia when preparing your teeth for the dental bridge and placing your customized restoration over the prepared tooth.
However, the discomfort is a nominal price for getting your mouth functionality, smile, and avoiding infections and indigestion. Don’t you think it offers more comfort than the minor discomfort from the dental bridge process?
The Dental Bridge Procedure
When getting dental bridges, you typically need two appointments with the provider.
During your first visit, the provider reshapes the abutment teeth to accommodate dental crowns over them. Some portion of your enamel and dentin is removed during the reshaping. The enamel removal process is uncomfortable, but the provider gives you local anesthesia near the missing tooth and the abutment teeth to ensure comfort.
After reshaping your teeth, the provider takes impressions or a digital scan of your teeth for a dental laboratory to use as a model to create your bridge, artificial teeth, and dental crowns. You receive a temporary bridge over the reshaped teeth for protection until the dental lab returns your bridge.
Placement of your permanent bridge happens during your second visit when your provider removes the temporary bridge for permanent restoration after giving you local anesthesia. They will check the permanent bridge carefully and make adjustments if required to ensure it fits you comfortably.
If all things are acceptable, the permanent dental bridge is attached to the dental crowns which go over your abutment teeth. The permanent dental bridge functions as your artificial tooth to provide advantages like helping your bite, preventing your remaining teeth from drifting out of place, and restoring your ability to smile, chew and speak without confronting challenges.
As can be seen, the dental bridge procedure isn’t uncomfortable or invasive but merely requires tooth preparation of the neighboring teeth to the missing tooth gap to accommodate dental crowns. Besides the minor discomfort, the replacement tooth provides significant benefits to make you think the dental bridge procedure wasn’t uncomfortable as you thought.
How to Care for Dental Bridges?
Dental bridges are excellent solutions for missing teeth but depend on the health and strength of your remaining teeth to function appropriately. When you have dental bridges, you must prevent tooth decay and gum disease that can lead to tooth loss. You must maintain appropriate tooth and gum care by:
Brush your teeth twice a day and floss at least once. The specialist can demonstrate the right way to brush and floss and recommend using a floss threader that permits you to slide the floss between the bridge and your gums.
You must have a balanced diet including plenty of fruits, vegetables, and fiber, and limit chewy and fibrous foods like some meats. Getting regular professional cleanings also become necessary to detect problems early when any treatment delivers the best outcomes.
If you have decided on dental bridges, Seascape Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry — Huntington Beach provides them with a minimally invasive procedure without causing intense discomfort when giving you a replacement tooth. Kindly schedule your appointment with the practice to restore the functionality of your mouth and smile.