Crowns and Bridges
Is a broken tooth causing you to smile with your mouth closed for pictures? Do you hide a missing tooth with your hand when you laugh?
If a damaged or missing tooth leaves a gap in your confidence, you need a crown or bridge from West Dental.
A crown is a tooth-coloured cap that fits over the top of a damaged tooth to repair and protect from further damage. Produced in hard-wearing, tooth-coloured porcelain or composite resin, a crown is sculpted to look, feel and function just like a natural tooth.
In comparison, a bridge is an entire replacement tooth, usually secured in place with wings attached to the healthy teeth on either side.
What’s the Difference Between a Crown and a Bridge?
Crowns slot over the top of a damaged, fractured, or broken tooth to restore structure and function. They stabilise your ability to chew correctly and mask any sign that your tooth was once damaged so you can get back to eating what you like and smiling confidently.
But, crowns don’t just boost your smile’s aesthetic and function. They also protect your tooth from further damage. When you get a crown, we’ll seal it off to stop bacteria penetrating and causing the infection so you can have a healthier smile for longer.
On the other hand, bridges restore the function and aesthetic of your smile by replacing one or more teeth.
Bridges are handcrafted by our clinical dental technicians, who are experts in creating beautifully lifelike replacement teeth. They will colour match your bridge to the rest of your teeth, so it blends perfectly – it’ll be like your tooth was never gone.
Your Restorative
Journey
To ensure your restorative crown or bridge fits just right, we’ll start by taking detailed impressions of your damaged tooth as well as x-rays, scans and images.
From these impressions, we can create and send the design of your restoration to our clinical dental technicians (CTDs). We may need to minimally prepare some teeth by removing a small amount of enamel to help your crown or bridge form a secure bond.
Once we’ve received the finished product from our laboratory, we’ll carefully place it over your tooth, seal, shape, and polish it. The results will be a secure, functional fixture for your smile that looks natural and feels fantastic.
Crowns and Bridges FAQs
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It’s not a question of which is better but which treatment is more suited to your needs and current situation. If your tooth is damaged but can be saved, you need a crown. We’ll always try to keep a tooth where we can, and crowns provide a safe, secure way to do so. If you have a missing tooth with reasonably healthy teeth remaining on either side, we can provide you with a bridge to reform the structure of your smile.
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Crowns and bridges are designed to last many years when you take good care of them. Taking good care of your crown and bridge requires regular checkups with our team and hygienists and keeping up a good oral hygiene routine at home.
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You should use a toothpaste containing plenty of fluorides and mouthwash to prevent plaque build-up around your bridge. This will also keep your gums super healthy as a bonus. Our team is always happy to pass on hints and advice on taking care of crowns and bridges to prolong their lifespan.
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Our lab-based CDTs are magicians when it comes to creating life-like replacements and repair for missing teeth. They’ll sculpt, mould and craft your restoration, keeping a close eye on detail, texture and colour. Even your closest friends and family won’t notice you have had dental work.
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A unit refers simply to the number of replacement teeth included in your bridge. For example, a three-unit bridge means your bridge will consist of three replacement teeth. On average, bridges have anywhere between one to three units.
Restore Your Smile
Revive the natural, healthy glow of your smile and fill the gap in your confidence with crowns and bridges from West Dental. Call our team today.
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