Missing teeth affect more than your self-confidence—over time, this unnatural gap in your smile can lead to a host of serious health issues, cause surrounding teeth to shift, decrease your chewing efficiency and affect your quality of life.
Whether you’re dealing with a single missing tooth or several, it’s important to understand your options and the risks of inaction. At Dr. Ron Richardson & Associates in Scarborough, we focus on personalized care and patient education on all dental issues, including missing teeth.
What You Can Expect
After a thorough examination, we may suggest a dental bridge as the best restorative procedure for you. Our recommended approach is based on many factors including the health of teeth and gums on each side of the gap, since these neighbouring teeth will support the bridge.
The bridge itself consists of an artificial tooth (or more if needed), which is positioned and fused between two crowns. If the surrounding teeth are healthy, they can be fitted with the crowns and support the artificial tooth or teeth in the middle. If the surrounding teeth aren’t capable of supporting the dental bridge, we may need to use implants to serve as an anchor, or place a removable partial denture.
Dental bridges are permanent and require the same level of care as your natural teeth. As part of the process of receiving a dental bridge at our Scarborough clinic, we’ll educate you about proper care and answer any questions you might have.