Dental prostheses

Crowns

If a significant portion of a tooth is missing, fillings or inlays no longer provide long-term solutions. In this case, a crown or an onlay is prepared. A highly accurate imprint of the tooth – which might even be supported by pins – is created after its reconstruction and polishing, and a dental technician prepares a crown which is then attached to the tooth stump by a strong bonding agent. The crown completely covers, surrounds and protects the polished tooth stump, thus, makes the highly eroded tooth suitable for chewing again, and able to withstand the enormous forces of chewing. Metal-ceramic materials are most often used to create crowns. In this case, a dental technician burns aesthetic porcelain onto a thin metal frame. Crowns can also be made of non-metallic materials, such as plastic that is reinforced with glass fibre or ceramic particles, ceramic with a zirconium frame, or completely porcelain. The advantage of these crowns is that they are of excellent aesthetics, but at the same time, a lot more expensive than the conventional metal-ceramic ones.

Bridges

Fillings, inlays and crowns offer solution in cases where there is no loss of teeth, only a greater or lesser amount of tooth material is missing. However, if one or two teeth are missing, in most cases the gap can be overspread with tooth bridges. The front and rear teeth that are surrounding the space – the pillars of the bridge – are usually polished, then a crown is put on each of them, and the linking part fills the gap. The bridge is also created by a dental technician on the basis of a previously made highly accurate imprint that is then attached to the pillars with the use of a strong bonding agent. The so created bridge ensures perfect chewing, it is aesthetic, and natural looking. The most common materials used to create bridges are metal-ceramic, or plastic that is strengthened by glass fibre or ceramic particles or zircon framed ceramics in the case of smaller bridges.

Temporary crowns, bridges

There is often need for either a temporary crown or bridge after tooth extraction or burnishing, to improve aesthetics. After tooth extraction or polishing, in most cases it is possible to make the temporary prosthesis in the surgery right away. In this case, patients can leave the surgery with a complete set of teeth. There are times when only a dental technician is able to make the temporary prosthesis. In this scenario, it takes about half a day to finish a tooth.

Combined, partial and removable dental prostheses

If there are many teeth missing, and the gap is so wide that it cannot be covered by a bridge, then dental prostheses that are combined, partial and removable provide the solution. In this case a specially designed aesthetic metal-ceramic bridge is fixed to the existing teeth, to which a removable metal plate is attached by means of precision engineered anchoring. These precision engineered anchors provide the complete stability of the removable part, which therefore stays in place.

Wire clasped removable dental prostheses

Although they are not perfect, wire clasped removable prostheses provide an easier and cheaper alternative for the covering of an extensive shortage of tooth material. These removable plastic prostheses are attached to the existing teeth with the help of wire clasps. They are not perfectly stable, and their presence burdens the existing teeth to a greater extent. Their advantages are that their production can be completed in a short amount of time, and at a low cost. This type of dental prosthesis is regarded as a temporary solution.