Prostheses

Fixed prostheses

Dental bridges

In order to supplement for a missing tooth removable prostheses (dentures) or fixed prostheses may be applied.
Fixed prostheses (dental bridges) may be attached to the existing teeth in various ways:

• with crowns (see its various forms at ‘Crowns’)
• with inlays (see ‘Inlays’) – these have the advantage that teeth do not have to be chiselled, only the amount normally taken when making a filling has to be removed of the teeth.

The missing teeth are supplemented with by the central part of the dental bridge (the so-called ‘dental body’); its form differs from the form of the original teeth. The width of the masticatory surface is smaller than that of the original teeth (in order to lessen the burden) and between the part next to the tongue or the gum, between the dental bridge and the gum a small gap is prepared in order to be able to clean the parts under the bridge with the toothbrush.

Materials

The frame of the bridge may be made of an alloy of cobalt-chrome, gold or zirconium. The frame bears the covering layers of porcelain forming the teeth.

Temporary crown, −bridge, −denture

In the course of dental treatments often temporary prosthesis (crown, bridge, removable denture) are needed for aesthetic reasons or in order to restore the bite. Temporary prostheses can serve the above aims in almost every case, with some limitations, for the total length of the treatment.

In the majority of the cases the patient can decide whether he/she needs a temporary solution (e.g. in case of a simple prosthesis a temporary bridge) but in some cases it is needed in any case (e.g. root canal treatments, periodontitis, implants).

Glass fibre reinforced bridge