Dr Andrew Sih provides dental bridges, dental bonding and crowns to patients in Bondi and other Sydney suburbs.

What are dental bridges?

There are a number of dentists in the Bondi Region of Australia who can perform a dental bridge for you, only a select few though can complete the aesthetic challenges appropriately though. Consideration for hue, tone and colour are to name a few of the import factors that need to be calculated when do cosmetic dental work.

Understanding the procedure

First, it is important to understand the exact procedure and know what is involved.

A regular dental bridge is created from porcelain fused to metal or ceramics in order to restore one or more missing teeth. A dental bridge can be carried out in Bondi as there are many qualified dentists in this area.

The bridge is like a false tooth but it more specialized and created by an expert in porcelain. The bridge will fill the gap and is then supported by adjacent teeth or implants to give the illusion of a perfect set of teeth. This is the outcome that your dentist will be looking for.

A dental bridge is always fixed to a specially prepared tooth. It cannot be fitted to any tooth without prior preparation. The teeth that are prepared are at either end of a gap. In many cases these teeth will be reduced in order for the bridge and its materials to be located in the space.

Dental bridges are actually very quick to perform and should not provide pain to the patient. For this reason it is best to find a highly recommended dentist in the Bondi area, who has experience with this procedure.

Dental bridges are necessary as they can stop teeth from drifting into gaps and they also improve many other factors. Bridges can improve your bite, your ability to chew and the cosmetic look of your mouth as they replace the gaps where you have lost teeth.

Materials used in dental bridges

The materials that will be used in the procedure vary deepening on the usage. Most dental bridges are made of metallic material, but some use ceramic materials for the preparation of the bridge. You will also have to use a partially flexible piece of equipment to support the tooth that is going to be replaced. This support is placed in between the teeth either side of the gap and is used very effectively for the success of the procedure.

You might hear the dentist using terms such as “pontics” and abutment teeth, during the bridge procedure. The ponitcs are the medical names give to the false teeth while the abutment teeth are the natural teeth at the sides of gap where the dental bridge will be placed.

How long does the "bridge" treatment take?

In most cases the procedure of installing a dental bridge will be typically conduced over two separate visits to the dentist. In the first visit your dentist will assess your teeth to determine whether or not you are a good candidate for a dental bridge. If everything is ok, then your teeth will then need to be prepared by reshaping or reconstructing any badly decayed or damaged areas. Following this, the dentist will take an impression of your teeth. The impression will be sent away to a lab so that it can be cast into a mold. This will allow a temporary bridge to be created which you will need to wear. On the second visit, the mold will be fitted to your teeth and the dentist will deal with any adjustments that need to be made.

Make and appointment

As you can see, a dental bridge requires a large degree of expertise, so you need to find a qualified dentist such as Dr Andrew Sih of Bondi Dental. Dr Sih is quite an exclusive dentist in the eastern suburbs of Sydney for bridges so book ahead where possible.

Dental bonding

Just as bridges span across land mass the same is true for dental bridges between gaps of gum.

Gaps that are obvious between teeth fraught with observation by yourself or others could see an appropriate dental treatment as dental bonding. Particularly when braces are not appropriate dental bonding may prove the best way forward. Chipped, stained or cracked teeth may see bonding as a great help. Dental bonding procedures are used not only to repair spontaneous dental damage but can also fix flaws passed brought about though family lines in a hereditary manner like excessive decay.

Dental composites are used in dental bonding to bond and colour match patient’s teeth. A completely natural-looking result presents itself at the end of most bonding treatments. A comprehensive bonding treatments can be completed with an hour or two.

Bonding procedure

The procedure involves a dentist first applying an etching solution to the patient’s damaged teeth (when decay is involved the damaged area will need to be drilled out first). The etching solution creates grooves that allow for proper adhesion of the composite resin bonding agent. The resin is then applied to the teeth in layers. After each layer is applied it is hardened with a powerful, specially designed light. Once the appropriate number of resin layers has been applied and bonded with the tooth it can be sculpted and set to shine until a comfortable and visually appealing result is achieved.

The great thing about dental bonding is that the result looks and feels like natural teeth. Before composite resin was widely used, when a tooth was damaged or decaying it was commonly repaired with a silver amalgam filling. Amalgam fillings are not always pleasing to the eye. They require much of the tooth’s natural structure to be drilled away so that they can be inserted. Resin bonding, on the other hand, aims to keep as much of the natural tooth as is possible.

Bridges in conjunction with crowns

The purpose of Crown and Bridgework is to restore the health and appearance of your smile after tooth loss. This treatment preformed by Dr. Andrew Sih in Bondi Sydney will restore lost teeth, support remaining teeth and help keep our teeth in proper position and proper bite.

A Bridge is essentially a device anchored to surrounding teeth that replaces one or more existing teeth. When a lost tooth is replaced with cemented bridgework, the teeth on either side of the missing one must be prepared as crowns to serve as abutments, to hold the bridge in place. This procedure usually takes from two to three appointments to complete.

Using a bridge to replace a missing tooth	The teeth are prepared and impressions are taken	The bridge is fitted and cemented into place