Crowns & Bridges services offered in Closter, NJ
Dentistry is a beautiful blend of art and science, and nowhere is this clearer than in dental crowns and bridges. At Glow Dental in Closter, New Jersey, family dentist Jihye Park, DDS, and her team provide their patients with high-quality crowns and bridges. These restorations help to enhance smiles and replace missing teeth with prosthetics that are as beautiful as they are functional. To learn more, schedule a visit by calling the office or booking online today.
Crowns & Bridges Q & A
What is a crown?
A crown is a permanent restoration that replaces the cap of your tooth. A prosthetic crown feels and functions just like a natural tooth, so you won’t even be aware of it once your dentist bonds it in place.
Why would I need a crown?
Crowns serve a variety of functions, including:
Restoring a severely decayed tooth
Reinforcing a tooth that’s suffered significant damage
Replacing a tooth that’s cosmetically unsightly
Capping a dental implant to replace a missing tooth
Crowns are also typically fitted after you’ve had a root canal to restore the strength and structure of your treated tooth.
What is a bridge?
A bridge is an oral appliance that replaces a tooth or teeth missing from your smile. They are custom-designed from an impression of your smile, allowing a perfect fit and replacement for your tooth. This result is all without detracting from your appearance.
A conventional fixed bridge is affixed to your smile with crowns that cover the teeth adjacent to your missing tooth. If your adjacent teeth can’t support crowns, you can get an alternative bridge, such as a cantilever bridge or a resin-bonded bridge.
Why would I need a bridge?
A bridge replaces your missing tooth or teeth, which is beneficial to your smile in a number of ways.
By filling in the missing space in your smile, a bridge prevents the rest of your teeth from drifting towards the empty gap and shifting out of alignment. It also helps to restore the bite relationship between your upper and lower teeth to properly distribute your biting force.
Misaligned teeth and improper bites can otherwise cause excessive wear-and-tear on your teeth and lead to jaw conditions like temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder, making bridges incredibly effective tools for improving oral health.
A bridge also serves a cosmetic purpose. By replacing your missing tooth or teeth, a bridge makes your smile whole and beautiful.
What happens when I get a crown or bridge?
The first step in getting a crown or bridge is to reduce the size of some of your teeth by shaving off some enamel. If you’re getting a crown, your dentist reduces the tooth that’s receiving the crown. If you’re getting a bridge, they reduce the teeth adjacent to your missing teeth. Once your teeth are reduced, your dentist takes an impression of your smile that’s used to design your crown or bridge. Your dentist then seals your smile’s custom-made crown or bridge with dental cement.
If you’re getting a bridge, your dentist sends your impression off to a lab that designs and fabricates your restoration. You wear a temporary bridge while you wait for your permanent one to come back from the lab, at which point you come back to Glow Dental to get it sealed in place.
Schedule a visit with Glow Dental by phone or online and restore your smile with a high-quality crown or bridge today.