How to Fix Bridge Teeth

Bridges are precision-made prosthetic dental restorations, made to replace a missing tooth or missing teeth. A bridge can be made from gold or metal with porcelain over it. A bridge is exactly what its name implies. It bridges gaps in a person's smile, where otherwise there would be a space. Occasionally a bridge perforates, becomes uncemented or fractures off a piece of porcelain. These are all occurrences that need the assistance of a dentist.

Instructions

• 1

  Schedule an appointment with the dentist that made the bridge. If the dentist is no longer available; 1800dentist.com, or the American Dental Association, ADA.org, can assist in locating a dentist.

• 2

  Attend the scheduled appointment, bringing the bridge with you, if it has come off. The dentist will want to see it.

• 3

  Allow the dental assistant to get examination x-rays, especially of the area where the bridge is, or was. The dentist will need to see if there is any deterioration around the margins -- the edges where the crowns of the bridge and the teeth meet -- and ensure the roots of the teeth are in favorable condition.

• 4

  Submit to an oral examination of the area. The dentist will feel around with an instrument called an explorer. The explorer is specifically used to feel around margins for cavities that may not be seen on x-ray. If the bridge is off, it will also give him a chance to check for decay on the abutments -- teeth that the bridge connects to.

• 5

  Give the dentist permission to re-cement the bridge, if there is no decay found and no other reason found for the bridge having come off. They do come off over time, occasionally without an obvious reason. If the bridge is still in the mouth, but the metal perforated, he will probably place a filling in the perforation -- if it is a small one.

• 6

  Listen to the dentist's recommendations regarding repairs. In the event of fractured porcelain or perforation, the dentist can use a crown puller, an instrument that slides under the margin of the crowns that are part of the bridge. It has a weight on the opposite end of the puller and tapping the weight will cause the bridge to come off.

• 7

  Allow the dentist to move the bridge to a dental laboratory, if the perforation or fractured porcelain can be repaired. This is the exception, not the norm. The majority of the time, a bridge needs re-making if it has broken, or perforated. If it can be repaired, the dentist will take impressions and send the bridge to the lab. If it needs re-making, he will either prepare the teeth for the new bridge right then and there -- or reschedule for another day. Either way, another appointment will be required.