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Home » restorative » Implants & Bridges
Dental Implants & Bridges
An implant is one of the ways to replace a missing tooth in a way that is
as close in appearance and feel to the missing tooth as possible. In
basic terms, the anatomy of a natural tooth is made of two parts: A root that is anchored in the
jaw bone and a crown, the part that you see and chew your food with. Think of an implant as an
artificial root that is made of titanium. This is surgically placed into the jaw bone.
In this fashion, the bone actually integrates with the implant. After the bone integrates,
coping(which represents the old crown) is screwed into the implant and a crown is than fabricated to be
cemented or screwed onto the coping.
Dental implants are also used as anchors for complete or partial dentures.
Implants used as anchors allow a patients’ denture or dentures stay more securely in place.
Bridges are another option for the replacement missing teeth. This technique requires that teeth
on either side of the missing tooth receive crown (caps). The area of the missing tooth is attached
to the crown adjacent to the space.
There are two types of bridges. They are fixed which means the bridge is placed permanently with cement. The other type is a removable bridge, also called a removable partial denture, which the patient can remove and insert themselves
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