What to Know about 3 Different Kinds of Dental Bridges

Do you have a missing tooth that you want to fix? Your dentist will likely recommend a dental bridge to fill in that gap. Here are the different kinds of dental bridges that can be used so that you know what the options are.

1. Butterfly Dental Bridge

A butterfly dental bridge gets its name from the look of the bridge when it is on the artificial tooth, which looks like it has metallic wings. The butterfly bridge is attached to the surrounding teeth on the rear side and does not use a dental crown to hold the artificial tooth in place. While the lack of crowns makes it an affordable option, it can only be used in situations where the patient is missing one tooth. The bridge will not be strong enough to hold multiple teeth, leaving patients to seek other options in this situation.

2. Fixed Dental Bridge

A fixed dental bridge uses dental crowns that are placed on real that surround the gap in your smile. This gives it more stability than a butterfly bridge, and can even be used to span across multiple missing teeth. However, the fixed dental bridge does require altering those healthy teeth that surround the gap, creating an abutment. The teeth are essentially shaved down so that the dental crown can fit on top of them, which will permanently alter the healthy teeth to provide an anchor for the artificial tooth in the dental bridge. 

While it may seem like you are damaging those healthy teeth, leaving the gap will eventually cause those teeth to shift towards the gap and make the problem with a missing tooth even worse. A fixed dental bridge can be used to replace a rear molar that would not normally have a tooth on each side. This is due to the added strength of having a crown placed on a healthy tooth.

3. Hybrid Dental Bridge

You can also use a combination of the fixed bridge and butterfly bridge, known as a hybrid dental bridge. It only requires a crown on a single tooth and uses a butterfly wing on the other tooth to help anchor the bridge in place. 

These are just a few options for installing a dental bridge to fix a missing tooth. Meet with a dentist for a consultation to find out what techniques could be used, since there may be a better solution to meet your needs.