5 Benefits of a Dental Bridge
If you have two or more missing teeth adjacent to each other, a dental bridge could fill in the gap in your smile. While this might seem like a minor cosmetic benefit, dental bridges can actually improve your life in many ways. Here are five benefits of dental bridges that you should not overlook.
1. Restores Confidence
Even if you do not think about the gap in your smile most of the time, you might feel disappointed with photos that show the gap. You might even avoid showing your teeth in photographs or feel embarrassed when talking or eating with others. If any of these situations sound familiar, a dental bridge can restore your confidence and allow you to smile beautifully in any situation.
2. Makes Eating Easier
Eating can be tricky when you have two missing teeth next to each other. Food that slips into the gap between your teeth can press into the gum, which can be uncomfortable or even painful. A dental bridge protects this area of gum, allowing you to eat more comfortably.
3. Protects Tooth Alignment
Perhaps the most important benefit of a dental bridge is that it helps to keep the rest of your teeth in the correct positions. When teeth are missing, it is common for adjacent teeth to move into the gap, which can lead to your smile becoming crooked. Your teeth could twist as they shift positions, making them difficult to clean or leading to them scratching painfully against your tongue or cheeks. A dental bridge prevents this migration, keeping your teeth well aligned.
4. Improves Bite
When you have teeth missing in a section of your mouth, the teeth around the gap must take the strain of biting and chewing. This can lead to them wearing down more quickly. Some people unconsciously switch to chewing on the other side of their mouth, which can lead to an overdevelopment in the jaw muscles on that side of the face while the other side atrophies, an imbalance that is sometimes visible in facial appearance. A dental bridge allows you to chew normally, preventing these long-term complications.
5. Has Easy Maintenance
Dental bridges are very easy to maintain; all you need to do is brush and floss around them as you do with your natural teeth. As long as you keep your dental bridge clean and have regular checkups, it could last a lifetime.
To learn more about dental bridges, contact a dentist.