Dental bridges in Melbourne

Patients come to our Melbourne dental clinic to receive bridges. In our modern dental practice, our skilled and experienced dentists use bridges to replace missing teeth. Successful dental bridge attachment can occur so long as there are teeth on either side of the missing tooth.

Our dentists prepare these teeth for crowns, and takes an impression (mould) of the prepared teeth. We send the impression to an off-site dental technician, where they fabricate a bridge. A bridge is a manufactured tooth attached to the two crowns. The technician constructs the dental bridge all in one piece to look like three separate teeth.

Process for dental bridges in Melbourne

Each patient has different needs, but we note it will take a minimum of 120 minutes, across two appointments, to have a dental bridge affixed to your teeth.

1. Your first appointment will take at least 90 minutes. Your experienced dentist will prepare your teeth for a bridge. This appointment involves having your two existing teeth prepared for a crown, as well as having an impression (mould) of your teeth taken. At the end of this appointment, we send your impression to our off-site dental technicians, who will manufacture your crowns and bridge.
2. Your second appointment will take approximately 30 minutes, and involves your dentist cementing the bridge in place using safe, non-toxic dental cement. At the end of this appointment, you should leave our Essendon dental clinic full of confidence with your new smile.

Case study

The patient below presented with a broken-down back molar and a missing first molar. Problems with her molars were causing the upper and lower teeth to start drifting apart, changing her bite. The change in bite also started placing more pressure on the front teeth, causing them to wear. The front teeth began to show wear as the patient was now chewing using the front teeth instead of her damaged/missing molars.

During treatment, our dentists reconstructed the back molar to remove all decay and fractures.      

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The finished outcome shows a bridge in place that connects the missing tooth to the teeth on either side of the gap, restoring the patient’s bite.

Your choices for bridges

Metal alone (high-noble or base metal)

The following list details key features of metal alone bridges (high-noble or base metal) at our Essendon dental practice:

• average longevity = 20 years to life
• gold or silver-coloured
• moderate-to-high initial cost
• can be used in any part of the mouth where having metal on display is not a concern.

Porcelain fused to metal

The following list details key features of porcelain fused to metal bridges at our Essendon dental surgery:

• average longevity = 10 – 20 years
• tooth-coloured
• moderate-to-high initial cost
• may be used in any part of the mouth where extreme stress or grinding habits are not present.

Ceramic non-metal containing crowns

The following list details key features of ceramic non-metal containing crowns bridges used by our skilled Essendon dentists:

• average longevity = 10 – 20 years
• tooth-coloured
• moderate-to-high initial cost
• may be used in any area where extreme stress or grinding habits are not present. Used when aesthetics is important. (We don’t advise anything over a three-unit bridge constructed from ceramic alone.)

Dental implants

Dental implants are also an option to replace a missing tooth. Dentists at our Essendon dental practice are experienced in treating patients for dental implants in situations where dental bridges may not be the best alternative.