Each and everyday it seems the prices for getting dental work done rises. Procedures like dental implants and porcelain veneers are normally not covered by dental insurance and people must start to look for alternatives to make the dental costs manageable. Two of the most popular dental procedures performed in Costa Rica are Crowns & Bridges.
Teeth and gums play an important role in our everyday lives. Good oral health not just enhances our ability to speak, chew, taste and smell but it also gives us the confidence to smile in public and interact with other people around us. However, even after knowing its importance a lot of people still take oral health for granted. Because of oral health negligence many people have severely decayed or damaged tooth and some had even lost their tooth completely.
Thanks to the dedicated professionals who are involved in dentistry, people who have decayed or missing tooth can now have the confidence to smile in public and enjoy the food they are eating with the help of prosthetic devices like crowns and bridges dental professionals have invented.
What are crowns and bridges and how do they work?
A crown is a prosthetic device that entirely covers a damaged tooth to give it strength and protection and at the same time improve the tooth’s appearance, shape and alignment. It is used to hold together parts of a cracked tooth, support a tooth with a large filling, protect a weak tooth from fracturing, restore a fractured tooth, cover a misshapen and severely decayed tooth, cover a dental implant or hold a dental bridge. Crowns can be made from different materials like stainless steel, metal, porcelain fused to metal, resin and ceramic. Crowns made from porcelain and ceramic can be made to match the color of a patient’s tooth that is why they are mostly used for front teeth because they look more natural. For back teeth, dentists recommend using gold, acrylic and metal alloys since they are stronger and can withstand biting forces.
In cases when the top of the tooth is lost due to decay, there would be very little tooth the crown can hold onto. To gain retention, a metal post is inserted in the tooth to form a peg on top of the tooth to act as the seat for the crown. This type of dental crown does not last as long as a normal crown since the roots is weaker and more brittle. However, having this type of crown is better than to having the tooth extracted.
Bridges is another fixed false tooth that can only be removed by a dentist. It is recommended if a patient is missing one or more teeth. Bridges are used to span the gaps left by missing teeth to prevent the remaining teeth from shifting into the empty space which may result it bad bite. Basically, a false tooth is cemented to the adjacent healthy teeth or implants to hold it in place. The surrounding teeth, called abutments, need to be prepared like crowns to serve as anchors for the bridge. A replacement tooth, called a pontic, is then attached to the crowns to cover the abutments. The only thing that may cause any issue is when the abutments have small or no fillings. Another disadvantage of having a bridge is that the patient needs to wait for about three months before the device can be put in to place. This is because the gum shrinks once a tooth is extracted and if a bridge is placed too early a gap would appear underneath the false tooth which would look unseemly as it may appear like a black line along the gum.
Crowns and bridges can last a lifetime with proper cleaning and caring, but if neglected just like natural teeth they come loose and fall out. Remember, the most important step to ensure that your crowns and bridges last a longtime, practice good oral hygiene by brushing and flossing regularly and make sure to visit your dentist regularly for checkups and professional cleanings.
Source: The Costa Rican Times, September 16, 2013
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