Few incidents have a greater impact on dental health and personal appearance than tooth loss. When one or more teeth are missing, the remaining teeth can drift out of position, which can lead to a change in the bite, the loss of additional teeth, decay, and gum disease.

A bridge is a false tooth, known as a pontic, which is attached to two crowns on either side to fill in the area where a tooth is missing. The bridge can be manufactured from a couple of materials- All gold or Porcelain-Fused-to-Metal (PFM) which is a metal tooth surrounded by a porcelain shell. We can fabricate the Porcelain Bridge in 26 different shades to match your surrounding tooth color.

Our office will recommend which material will give you the best result depending on the location of the bridge in your mouth, or whether you tend to clench your teeth. Since a Porcelain-Fused-To-Metal looks the best and matches your tooth's natural color, we will most often recommend it as the optimal material.

Then, we fit a temporary bridge into place. The impressions of the area are sent off to a laboratory. We can expect to receive the completed bridge back in the office within two weeks.

In the last visit, we cement the completed bridge into place, and perform any adjustments if necessary.

If you have any questions regarding this cosmetic procedure, feel free to contact our office: 434-293-8944

Page last modified 7/25/2002
Jeffery E. Hodges, DDS
2250 Old Ivy Road Suite #3
Charlottesville, Va. 22903