This case shows Russell Blanchard‘s and Robin Snell’s skills to the full. The patient in this case was very dissatisfied by the appearance of her upper right central and lateral incisors and wanted some thing done. Sadly the lateral incisor could not be saved and needed to be removed. Because the right central incisor was much darker than the left central incisor it made sense for us to cover this tooth as part of the bridge design. As we so ofter do now we used a fibre reinforced composite bridge (FRC) which provides us with great strength and aesthetics but requires almost no adjustment to the underlying teeth. With this bridge design the false tooth (or pontic) is attached to the teeth on either side of it with wings or veneers that cover the whole of one surface. Like any bridge design it is essential that the teeth either side are kept scrupulously clean on a daily basis but if this is done then the bridge should give many years service. The alternative replacement option here would have been an implant retained crown but this would have cost well over twice as much and taken many months to complete. The central incisor would still have needed a veneer or whitening to improve its colour match. When you consider the alternatives I think the advantages of the bridge (listed below) make it a real alternative to implant work.
- Fitted on the same day as the extraction
- Less than half the cost of an implant retained crown
- FRCs are easily repairable in the mouth
- Almost no adjustment to the abutment teeth
- Proven track record for many years.
As ever, if you would like to find out if this treatment is appropriate to you then please do not hesitate to contact the surgery on 01580 752202 and we will be happy to help.
