Dental bridge is used to restore missing teeth. Its basic requirement is that there must be teeth on either side of the missing teeth area.
Another type of bridge is cantilever bridge, but due to scope of this article, we will not discuss it in this article.
One dental bridge may consist of dental crown on each side of teeth support and the middle part called the pontic area. The middle pontic area is the fake dental teeth connecting the two side. The bridge is permanently fixated onto the patient’s natural teeth.
Dental bridge looks like natural teeth and functions like natural teeth. It uses natural teeth for support.
Because underneath the dental bridge are natural teeth, they need to be take care of and cleaned just like any other teeth in the mouth. Brush with toothbrush and toothpaste at least 3 times a day, after each meal.
Dental bridge is different from the removable denture. Dental bridge cannot be taken off from the mouth arbitrarily for cleaning. Food may accumulate in the pontic area of the dental bridge. Typical dental floss cannot be used to clean in the pontic area because the pontic portion of the bridge is fused with the two crowns on each side. Luckily, there is a dental hygiene device called the Floss Threader, which can be purchased at the local pharmacies.
Floss Threader is a long slender plastic piece with a loop on one side. Dental floss can pass thru the loop and this floss threader can guide the floss into the tight space in the pontic area.
Once the floss is passed thru, it can be used to swipe back and forth around the pontic area to clean out the food debris.
Also, make a routine visit to your dentist because the natural teeth is covered by the dental bridge and the dentist can use the Xray to check for any cavity.
Written by Daniel Tee, DDS, MS
Practicing General Dentist Serving Tempe, Chandler, Phoenix, Mesa, and Gilbert Arizona
