Let’s be honest – you’re smile just isn’t what it used to be. All the years of wear and tear have taken a toll and there are a couple blank spots in your grin. You want to address your missing teeth, but you’re not sure if dentures would be better for you, or if a dental bridge might be the right choice. In this post, the team from Deer Park Family Dentistry, your premier dentist in Deer Park, explain the differences between these two restorative treatment options.
What Are Dentures & Dental Bridges?
Before we discuss the differences between each prosthetic tooth, we should define these terms first:
- Partial Dentures – Rather than a full plate, partial dentures take the place of one or many missing teeth, and are set on a base that looks like your natural gum tissue.
- Full Dentures – As you would expect from the name, full dentures are an entire arch of plastic, artificial teeth that replace natural dentitions. These can be secured to your teeth with suction, brackets, or even implant posts for a snap-in solution.
- Dental Bridges – Dental bridges are an excellent way to replace one or more missing teeth – the artificial “pontics,” or false teeth, create a literal bridge between anchoring natural teeth that hold the pontics in place with a dental crown. Crowns are fixed in place with dental bonding agents and require extra care to clean around them when brushing.
What Are The Benefits Of Dentures?
Dr. Jane Reeves, Dr. Jason Peck, and Dr. Troy Tregre break down the pros and cons of dentures in Deer Park with these highlights:
- Dentures help you chew and speak correctly.
- Dentures keep your natural teeth from shifting to fill in the gaps from missing teeth.
- Dentures improve your self-confidence.
- Dentures can last between 5-10 years.
- Dentures are usually the most affordable tooth replacement option.
- Dentures are an excellent way to take care of many missing teeth.
To be a good candidate for dentures, you should have significant tooth loss (or impending tooth loss), and a healthy amount of jawbone and gum tissue for the denture to fit around.
What Are The Benefits Of Dental Bridges?
Our team also knows that dental bridges are a great solution for many reasons, including:
- Dental bridges are a superior solution if you’re missing only one or two teeth.
- Dental bridges allow you to keep more of your natural teeth, and are great if you have secure remaining dentitions.
- Dental bridges are an aesthetically pleasing, fixed replacement – they stay in place.
- Dental bridges take less time to adjust to than full or partial dentures.
Dental bridges could be right for you if you have strong surrounding teeth and tooth roots, and have good gum health as well. And, if you’re interested in the most advanced version of this treatment, talk with us about an implant-retained dental bridge.
Now that you know how dentures and bridges stack up when compared to each other, schedule your appointment with Deer Park Family Dentistry to find out which restorative treatment is right for your smile!