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By taking care of dental problems immediately, you minimize the risk of
future problems.
This is the art of replacing missing natural teeth with artificial
teeth, which are just as functional and esthetical as your natural
teeth. With recent developments in dentistry, a number of alternatives
are available to replace missing teeth, ranging from traditional
dentures to crowns and bridges and even dental implants. It is essential
to restore lost teeth as early as possible with something that closely
resembles your teeth.
Dental Crowns
A crown restores the damaged tooth and mimics the size, shape and color
of the original tooth.
They are indicated for fractured and worn out teeth; to protect teeth
that have been filled by root canal treatment; to provide extra support
for bridges; and to cover poorly shaped or discolored teeth.
They on an average last for five to eight years, but can even last much
longer if proper oral hygiene is maintained
The tooth to be crowned is prepared (i.e. reduction of the tooth size)
followed by an impression of the tooth, being obtained. This reduction
of the tooth is required to build room for the crown to be fixed. The
impression taken is then sent to a laboratory where expert technicians
will fabricate the crown. In the meanwhile, a temporary crown is made
and fixed on top of the reduced tooth.
Crowns can be made of porcelain, metal or newer restorative materials
like metal-free ceramics.
Types of dental crowns
All Resin – These are normally used for temporary coverage.
However they do not last long like other types of crowns because they
are not very fracture resistant.
All Metal – This includes gold alloy and other base metal alloys.
Metal crowns are the toughest. They rarely break or chip and can resist
daily wear and tear. The only disadvantage is that they look like metal
and not a natural tooth.
Ceramic fused to Metal – They merge the strength of the metal
along with the esthetics of porcelain. Although the porcelain is
somewhat more prone to chipping, they are still tough. They are the most
commonly used crowns now.
All Ceramic – These crowns are best esthetically and have the
advantage of being ‘metal free’. This is a big advantage even for
subsequent scan in the face and head region since it does not produce
‘scatter’ during CT scans.
Dental Bridges
A dental bridge restores missing teeth by "bridging" the space between
two existing teeth. The crowns are fixed over the remaining teeth to
hold the false tooth in place.
When teeth are only on one side of the space, cantilever bridges can be
given. Cantilever bridge consists of two or more side-by-side crowns and
only one is fixed over the prepared natural teeth.
To design a bridge, the reshaping of the abutment tooth or teeth is done
to make space for the crowns. Then the mold of the teeth is made. This
mold is then sent to a laboratory, where the crowns and bridge are made.
They prevent the nearby teeth from moving or shifting in the oral cavity
and also stabilize the bite of a patient with missing one or more teeth.
Unlike partial dentures, bridges are fixed; patients need not remove
them. The lost tooth is replaced with an artificial one attached between
two crowns, and is permanently cemented onto the adjacent teeth.
DENTAL IMPLANT
Dental Implants are artificial substitutes for natural tooth-roots. When
teeth are lost, implants are used to anchor artificial teeth to the
underlying jawbone and hence closely mimic the natural dentition. They
make it possible for people who cannot or will not wear a conventional
denture to have very firm, stable and attractive teeth. It is usually
made of titanium which is a biocompatible material i.e. our body accepts
the metal comfortably and does not reject it. Titanium has a
well-documented track record of more than 40 years. Implants can replace
one or more or all teeth. It is an alternative to conventional
techniques such as bridges to replace missing teeth.
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