How to Take Care After Having Dental Bridges

There’s nothing that kills a beautiful smile like missing teeth. What’s more, they also affect your oral health and overall health. You will have to deal with indigestion, shifting teeth, and even enunciation issues. But thanks to dental bridges in Mississauga, ON, you can have the opportunity to get your smile back on track.

Getting a dental bridge on front teeth is among the best decisions you will ever make. But for you to maintain your new smile, you will need to be a bit more careful to ensure that the tooth bridge serves you as it should.

If you have just gotten a tooth bridge or are in the process of getting one, you should continue reading to unpack the various things that you should know about caring for dental bridges in Mississauga, ON.

A Quick Look at Dental Bridges

Tooth bridges have been around for many decades and have been used to revamp countless smiles. They are usually crafted from various materials, including zirconia, metal, ceramic, etc.

A typical bridge is comprised of two parts, the false tooth (pontic) and two dental crowns. The false tooth is usually placed in between the two crowns and is the one that fills the gap created by the missing tooth.

The two crowns are also an essential part of the bridge since they are the ones that are bonded onto the adjacent teeth to keep the bridge in place.

You can get your bridge fixed in two dental visits in most cases.

What Happens After Bridge Placement?

Your natural teeth have to be prepped for the dental crowns to be firmly anchored. This means that our dentist will remove some of the enamel to ensure that the two crowns are a snug fit. Nevertheless, the prepping comes with some changes, such as:

• Soreness when biting food
• Tooth sensitivity
• Speech impediments
• A difference in how your bite feels
• Change in how your mouth feels

Due to these changes, you might need some adjustment period before you can fully enjoy your dental bridges. Mostly, the changes are natural and temporary.

So, How Long Will It Take to Adjust?

For a majority of the patients, adjusting will take them about a couple of weeks. However, with each passing day, there will be some gradual ease in the side effects as you get used to the new bridge.

How Can You Deal With Tooth Sensitivity?

One of the major concerns that most patients have after bridge placement is tooth sensitivity. To avoid major discomfort during this adjustment period, you can do the following:

• Cold and hot foods or drinks are not your friends. If you dare to go down this road, you will have bouts of tooth sensitivity that will be total killjoys. So, try to enjoy lukewarm or room temperature beverages and foods for a few days after the bridge is placed.
• Use a toothpaste formulated to deal with sensitive teeth. When cleaning your teeth, use a toothpaste designed to deal with sensitive teeth since this will also help ease tooth sensitivity.
• Steer clear from hard and crunchy foods. There’s no need to add more pressure to the bridge that has just been placed. This causes you a lot of discomforts. To reduce this pressure, eat soft foods and slowly work your way to the hard and crunchy foods in a few weeks.
• Use pain relievers. If the need arises, you can get painkillers until the discomfort passes.

Tips to Maintain Your Bridge

Once our dentist has placed the bridge, you need to care for them to enjoy a beautiful smile. To keep your smile beautiful and healthy, you need to:

• Brush your teeth at least twice each day. This is tooth cleaning 101. You cannot skip the basics since it is what keeps plaque and tartar at bay. So, while brushing, pay attention to the gum line since food has a knack for lodging along the gums.
• Clean underneath the bridge. As you are brushing your teeth, remember to clean under the bridge. However, you will need floss threaders, interproximal brushes, and dental picks to clean under the bridge effectively.
• Floss once each day. Even if you have brushed your teeth, you will need to clean between your teeth to remove food debris stuck in those hard-to-reach areas.
• Attend routine checkups. Routine dental visits are essential for everyone. But if you have such restorations, routine checkups are even more vital.

Dental bridges are excellent tooth replacements. Contact us at Pearl Dental Care if you have any questions.